Dark Dancers, A Carpathian Fanfic
by Purely Superficial
Summary: Reluctant exotic dancer Madalyn DeMuir has an unusual patron. Not only does he slide tips amounting to thousands in her boot every night but he's not human either. When her nightmares threaten her best friend she has only her Carpathian lover to lean on.
1. Chapter 1

_I put a spell on you...because you're mine..._

Marylin Manson blasted out of the speakers as Maddie danced around the pole. Her plastered smile and eyelash extensions hid the loathing that always simmered under the surface when she was at work. Still, this was the best paying and the safest job she'd held so far.

_I don't care if you want me...cause I'm yours, yours YOURS...anyhow_

As she circled the chrome pole, she counted her blessings with every step of her 6 inch platform highest high heals. Her goth stripper persona attracted rich regulars. When all the chains and spikes she wore weren't enough to discourage patrons from chasing her behind stage, Diesel and Barry, the clubs grizzly bear bouncers, provided protection. She'd been lucky to find one of the clean clubs to work at. She didn't even have to strip, just dance for a few hours, off and on, six nights a week and her boss never asked for more than she was willing to give.

_I can't stand your foolin' around...If I can't have you...No one will! _

There he was, right on cue. It was midnight exactly, according to the neon lit clock above the bar. He'd come every night the past week. Maddie didn't know his name, but he was by far the best tipper she'd ever had. Almost every night, he'd slid several thousand dollars into her boot top. His fingers always sent fire racing up her leg. She told herself it was crazy to react to such an innocent move—other tippers tried to leave things in her fishnet stockings or corset—but he was by far the most erotic man she'd ever set eyes on.

The song changed and she turned away from the viewers to prepare for her next dance. Another Manson song, but tonight it suited her mood.

_Sometimes I feel I've got to...Run away I've got to...Get away from the pain that you drive into the heart of me..._

The mysterious man sat back against the wall. She sensed, as she did every night, that he was on the verge of loosing control and becoming violent. Black rage mixed with burning desire, swirled just under the surface of his hard face.

She didn't question how she knew; she'd always been strongly empathic with people and animals. She could feel emotions, pains, and needs. It was what kept her out of trouble while she traveled around the country. It was only one half of her strange heritage. The only half she wanted.

All the other girls were certain he was a mafia hit man. How else could he afford to tip so lavishly? Besides, he looked like a killer. His eyes were deep blue, his hair long but well kept. His wore nondescript black jeans with a black button down shirt, the first two buttons loosened so that a silver chain glinted underneath.

She made the mistake of catching his eyes, and suddenly she couldn't look away. She paused in her dancing, mesmerized. She had the sudden urge to leave the stage and the club, and never look back. She shivered and shook off the compulsion.

Just to prove a point to herself, Maddie met the eyes of another regular, a fat business man who it was rumored was a closet sadist. She licked her lips seductively and arched her back against the pole like a cat as she slid down. She crawled slowly to the edge of the stage and offered her cleave to the man. He reached forward, a twenty in his hand.

Suddenly the mobster was between her and her tip. She peaked over his shoulder just in time to see the fat man nearly fall out of his chair and run away. She sat back on her heals, perturbed. She glanced over at the bar where Diesel was taking his break and caught his eye. Diesel didn't like the man, didn't trust him, and had made his opinion known on several occasions. He arched an eyebrow, silently asking if she wanted help. She shook her head gently, indicating she'd try to handle this.

"What's your name?" she asked in a husky voice as she backed up to the pole. She didn't want to be in grabbing reach, even as she tried to distract him from the violent urges she could feel so strongly in him.

"Jas Trovatelli," he replied, his voice deep and melodic. He turned and took the chair that had just been vacated.

An Italian last name—he was mafia after all! "You in town on business?" she asked as she curled a leg around the pole and slowly swung back and forth to the beat of the song.

"Pleasure," he said, a wealth of meaning in that one word as his eyes ate her up.

Maddie looked around and suddenly realized that every other regular had left her corner stage. Everyone was pointedly keeping their backs turned to her. Even Diesel wasn't glancing her way as he sipped his beer. Suddenly she was very uneasy.

"You know," she said, trying to hide her nervousness with a little giggle. "You don't have to scare away my regulars to get a privet dance."

Jas just smiled. It made him look like a satisfied predator, like the cat who ate the canary.

"My shift is over soon," Maddie continued. "You could talk to Diesel about renting a suite for an hour."

"What if I want more than an hour?" he asked, that wicked smile never leaving his face.

"I'm sure we can come to an agreement," she moaned huskily as she slid the bar between her breasts provocatively.

"What if I want eternity?" he whispered, but Maddie's ears heard him loud and clear. For the second time that night, she faltered in her dance.

"Mr. Trovatelli--" she started.

"Jas, please," he insisted.

"--I'm not the kind of girl to get suckered into offers like that," she said clearly, without a trace of seduction in her voice. "You can buy as much time as you want to watch me dance, but we both know you're not in the market for eternity."

He smirked and his eyes lit up. They reminded her of the blue fire on special alcoholic drinks. "You have no idea what I'm in the market for."

Somehow, his soft voice sent prickles up her arms and legs. She wanted to step off the stage and into his arms, but she knew that it would get her fired on the spot. It was one thing to let a customer grope as he stuffed money in her clothes, but there was a strict policy in place to prevent prostitution. His blatant arousal was overpowering, which was saying something since she was used to pushing aside all the emotions regularly broadcasted in the club.

Maddie suddenly felt like she was suffocating. She slid down the pole one more time as the song ended. "My time's up," she said, trying to regain control through sex appeal. "See you around...Jas."

Her heart flipfloped as she whispered his name, and it was all she could do to slowly walk down the runway and duck behind the curtain to the dressing room.

"So?" Sidney demanded as soon as the curtain swished closed. "What kind of tip did Mr. Bankroll give you today?"

"Nothing," Maddie sighed. She was used to Sidney's bright and blaring style. She was sweet for a competitive stripper.

"That dickwad has some nerve to stiff you like that," Sidney cried indignantly. Then she adjusted her brazier and smiled to herself, "More for me!" Then she walked through the curtain to the stage to start her shift.

Maddie sighed and went to the dressing room. No one else was there, which wasn't a surprise. Most of the dancers angeled for a privet dance after their shift to earn a little more money. She flopped in one of the chairs and closed her eyes.

When she opened them she almost screamed. Jas was standing behind her, his blue eyes meeting hers in the mirror.

"Wh-what are you doing here?" she demanded. "You're not allowed here!"

He bent and whispered in her ear, "I came for that private dance you mentioned."

His hot breath sent heat pooling in her stomach. Her toes literally curled with the sheer seduction in his voice.

"Idiot," she muttered. "You have to talk to Diesel about that."

"I don't want to see him dance," Jas replied, his smile in the mirror making it obvious he was intentionally mistaking her meaning.

She could feel not only his raging emotions but his body heat as well. Her skin felt like it was burning, her very marrow prickling in her bones at his close proximity and overwelming sexualtiy.

"I don't put out," she burst out. "I'm not that kind of girl."

"I should hope so," Jas murmured. Then he kissed her earlobe. Careful of her large hoop earrings, his teeth scraped the tender flesh. Maddie shivered. He chuckled, pleased with the havoc he was wreaking.

"I'm not playing games," she ground out between clenched teeth. Why was it so hard to resist him? That never happened with any of her other regulars. It was easy to dismiss them for the pieces of slime they were. It took all her willpower, but finally she demanded, "What do you want?"

"Do you really want the answer to that?" Jas asked seriously. His tongue darted out to tease her earlobe once more. "Or do you want me to say what everyone says?"

"Just give me the honest-to-god answer and leave me alone!" she cried, tearing herself out of the chair. She spun around to face him, her back against the makeup table and mirror. She had intended to make a stand, to face him eye to eye in hopes of staring him down. It was a mistake. She was almost instantly lost in his hungry gaze. He wanted her, primally, aggressively, exclusively. She could feel it radiating off of him, and worse, she wanted him too. The longer he stood there, looking perfect and masculine, the more she wanted to mold herself to his form. And damn him he knew it!

"Honest-to-god? I want to take you far away from here," he said softly, his low melodic voice rolled over her like ocean waves until she could barely keep from shaking with desire. "I want to take care of you, provide for you, keep you safe from the world." His hard body crowded hers. Every where his body touched hers, fire erupted, swirled, consumed all good sense. "I want to shower you with gifts, give you everything you ever wanted, ever dreamed of." He cupped her face in his hands, and Maddie almost wept with the pent up tension in her body. "I want to make love to you from sunset to sunrise, until you fall asleep in my arms and we sleep the day away."

He finally kissed her. His mouth was hot, possessive, but soft and tender. Gently he parted her lips and explored her mouth. He captivated her with his lazy, intoxicating kiss. Stunned, Maddie didn't move as his lips wandered over her jaw and down her neck, leaving a trail of icy fire in their wake.

White pain suddenly shot through her and she went rigid. Then pleasure washed through her, warmth, comfort, desire. Some small corner of her mind knew he was leaving a hickey on her neck, and spared a thought to the gobs of makeup it would take to cover it up. Then her worries were swept away as his mouth wandered lower to suckle the swell of her breast above her corset.

"I'm so getting fired if anyone finds me," she moaned. "You should go away."

"Do you really want me to leave?" he asked, his breath hot against her breasts. His hands snaked around her waist and pulled her hips to his, shamelessly bringing her up against the obvious needs of his body.

"No," she sighed. "But I have to be practical."

"Why?"

"Because I have rent!" she cried. "And bills to pay! And cats to feed!"

"What if I compensated you?" Jas whispered, his mouth moving up over her neck again as his hands caressed her buttocks.

"Are you trying to bribe me against my morals?" she chuckled breathlessly.

"You are a stripper with morals?" he teased.

That brought her back to her senses. She brought her hand up to slap him. He caught her wrist easily before she struck his face. Curiously he demanded explanation with the merest arch of an eyebrow.

"I don't strip," Maddie almost spat. "I don't put out. I don't do favors. I may not make the most in tips, but I'm disease and complication free." She was fiercely proud of what she had managed to do with her life. It may not be glamorous or drama filled, but she was just waiting for her big break, and then, everything would get better.

"I am sorry for my loose speech," he apologized eloquently, but Maddie was too angry to believe him.

"Get out," she demanded hotly and pushed hard against his solid chest. "Or I'll scream."

"One more kiss?" Jas pleaded.

"Try it and I'll bite you."

"Is that a promise?" he laughed, but nonetheless he backed away. "I'll hold you too it."

He glided out of the room, leaving his chilling laughter in his wake. Maddie waited until he'd left the dressing room before sagging against the makeup table. Her hand found something and looked down at the thick roll of small, unmarked bills in her hand. She'd certainly earned her tip tonight. So why did she feel like throwing it after him?


	2. Chapter 2

Maddie fought to control her shaking hands as she walked back into the club. She was torn between desperately wanting to see Jas and never wanting to come near him again. She'd taken several sick days to see if that threw him off the scent. Maybe he'd think she'd been fired and wouldn't come back.

Somehow, she doubted it. She'd spent all of her time off looking over her shoulder, feeling watched.

Back in the dressing room she took off her trench coat to reveal her dancing costume for the night. She'd chosen classic silk stockings with a long seam in the back. They hooked to a lace garter belt trimmed with red crystal beads. Her bodice was also dark red, and her auburn hair was caught up in a bun with two black lacquered chopsticks.

She sat at the makeup table and carefully applied her eyeliner, eyelash extensions, masquera and black lipstick. She still had that hickey on her neck from where Jas had bitten her. It hadn't faded at all during her days at home. She covered it liberally with concealer and foundation. She shadowed her cheeks and with a touch of impetuousness, she added stick-on rhinestones, one at the outside corner of each eye and one between her eyes. The red contrasted with the green and made the amber flecks almost glow.

Satisfied with her appearance, she reached into her handbag and pulled out the bracelets, collar and gigantic shoes that went with her persona. Looking at herself in the mirror, she saw the tramp she'd made herself into to survive.

A wave of despair washed over her. More than anything, she wanted to run home to her computer and start writing again. She loved to write. She had two finished manuscripts ready for publication, but so far, all her queries had brought back only generic "We regret to inform you" letters. The tips from Jas helped, but if she was going to make a living as writer, she needed to keep moving to avoid the nightmares.

Shaking off the dread that crept down her spine, Maddie parted the curtain and walked on stage.

Jas was there, even though it was early in the night. And it was no coincidence he sat totally alone, waiting for her.

Delight made her blush and she flashed him a genuine smile. Then she chastised herself for being so happy to see trouble waiting for her.

Maddie leaned against the pole casually, trying to use the height of the stage to her advantage.

"What are you here for?" she asked. She'd meant to sound superior, but it came out husky and breathy.

"You," Jas said simply.

"You expect to get a cheep dance because you scared off all my regulars?" she demanded.

"If you'd like to move this to a privet room, I have no complaints," he returned, spreading his hands in an innocent gesture.

"You know there's bulletproof glass between the dancer and the audience in those rooms," she informed him with a trace of seduction in her voice.

"I could not tolerate that," he assured her.

Maddie grabbed the pole, leaned out, and slowly walked around it, her massive shoes falling in rhythm to the music. After one complete circuit, she asked, "Why me?"

It had been plaguing her for some days. She wasn't blond, or ultra skinny, and she'd made it emphatically clear she didn't intend to sleep with him. It seemed a lot of trouble for a drifting mob hit man to go through when there were so many other women who'd fall all over themselves just to touch him.

"Because you were made for me," Jas replied, honestly. "Because I am destined to protect and care for you."

"You think fate brought us together?" Maddie laughed and circled the pole again. "I think the little fellow in your pants brought you here, and for some reason you decided to latch on to me. Not that I mind. Your tips have made me the envy of the dressing room." She rambled as she made a third lap on stage.

"I never imagined I would find my lifemate on the stage of a gentleman's club," Jas returned.

"Don't start," Maddie snapped to a stop behind the poll. "I'm no one's lifemate."

"You are mine."

"Are you going to pay for me to dance twenty-four-seven?" she challenged.

"If I thought it would work," he teased. She could actually feel the growing affection he had for her. She had to put an end to it. She could never stay with him, even if she wanted to, which she most certainly did not. Soon the nightmares would catch up to her and she'd be forced to move on anyway.

"You should go," Maddie murmured sadly.

"Kitling, I can promise you that I will never leave you. You will never be alone again," Jas said softly, sincerely.

"Alone is safe. I prefer it," she insisted.

"I do not," he said with absolute certainty and conviction.

Maddie smiled at him and seductively slid down the pole, rubbing her body against it like a cat. "I'm an exhibitionist. That's why I work here. I could never be happy with just one man," she lied.

His eyes instantly went dark and dangerous, the blue alcohol flames burning in their depths. Startled at his reaction, she wondered if it was smart bating this particular tiger.

"We will see about that," he replied coldly.

All of a sudden, Maddie didn't feel much like dancing anymore. Her stomach felt sick with fear. She tried to excuse herself from the stage. "I think I caught a virus," she said and stood to leave.

Jas caught her gaze and held it firmly. "Meet me outside," he intoned, filling those three words with as much compulsion as he dared.

Maddie shivered and quickly walked into the dressing room. She changed her shoes to the comfortable low heeled sandals she wore on a daily basis, threw on her long trench coat and grabbed her handbag. Without a word to the other girls in the dressing room, she charged out the door.

Diesel intercepted her.

"You alright Madelyn?" he asked. Even though he looked like a huge bear with tattoos all over his arms and neck, Diesel was a sweetheart. He always called her by her full name, insisting it was just as beautiful as she was. "Did that freak say something to you?"

Maddie looked up at her protector, torn between being grateful for his caring nature and desperate to get out.

Suddenly a nightmare hit her. She never called them visions, always nightmares, because they were always terrible. She saw Diesel lying on the ground, blood all around him, and Jas kneeling beside him, Diesel's blood on his hands. Jas looked up at her, fangs bared, eyes blazing. He looked unearthly, terrifying, insane. It was so vivid it almost made her vomit. As it was, she lurched with nausea.

Strong hands caught her shoulders as she stumbled and hard arms pulled her into an embrace.

"Hey!" Diesel roar at Maddie's rescuer. "What do you think you're doing?"

"I am taking her home," Jas said softly, reasonably. "She is ill."

Diesel hesitated, then shook his head as if trying to clear it. "I'll take care of her. She's one of my girls."

"I am her fiancée," Jas replied hypnotically. "That's why I have been coming in for months to watch over her. We have known each other for a long time, Diesel. You remember me, do you not?"

Diesel's eyes glazed over and he nodded mutely. Maddie could only watch horrified.

"You trust me implicitly," Jas continued. "I will take her home and see that she is cared for." With that, he carefully but firmly directed her out of the club. As soon as they were outside, Maddie wrenched herself away from him and began to run. It didn't matter where she ended up. The nightmares had followed her, and a demon was stalking her.

The image of Diesel, the gentle giant, lying in a pool of blood was burned into her retinas. Tears streamed down her face as she stumbled on. Suddenly her legs gave out and for the second time in five minutes, Jas prevented her fall. He held her as she shook with the violence of her vision.

Because he had taken her blood a few nights before, he shared the ugly vision with her. He understood her panic and fear. He didn't have anything to say to comfort her. He knew she cared for the bouncer in a brotherly way. Under normal circumstances he would have dismissed the idea of murdering a human who was not a vampire's puppet. But her vision had been so powerful, even with all his centuries of experience, he found it difficult to discredit. Worse, she had been faced with the image of what he truly was before she was ready for it.

Maddie couldn't stop shaking. She felt so cold, despite the muggy warmth of the city night. She clung to Jas because there was nothing else she could do. He was solid. Dependable. Honorable. She knew these things inexplicably, but with intense certainty. Yet it paled to the horror of her nightmare.

"Easy, kitling," Jas murmured. "You have been given a great gift, and your fear of it has caused you to neglect it."

"I don't neglect my nightmares," Maddie insisted, her voice shaking as much as the rest of her.

"You run from them," he replied. Oddly, he didn't sound accusing at all, only sad that she'd had to endure such a burden alone for so many years. "There will be no more running."

"If I stay, it will happen," she insisted.

"It will happen either way," he tried to sooth her.

"So you will kill him?" she demanded loudly.

"Not if I could help it, honeysweet," Jas tried to explain. "Only if he was faced with a fate worse than death would I end his suffering, and I would do so quickly and mercifully."

"I knew it, you are a killer!" she accused him, feebly pounding on his chest. "Get away from me!"

Jas gripped her shoulders and forced her to look into his eyes. "Yes, I have been forced to kill over the years, but never did I want to. Know that I will protect you with my life. You are all that matters to me."

"What about Diesel?" she cried hysterically. "You'll kill him! I saw you; you're a monster."

With an oath, he wrapped his arms around her again and rocked her back and forth as she sobbed into his shoulder.

He had spent a week and a half observing her, trying to help her with large sums of money, hoping that she might leave the club on her own. To his consternation, she'd stayed. After their brush in the dressing room, he'd followed her every night, silently tracking her through the blood bond. He'd sat outside her window while she'd watched old movies and drank copious amounts of peach tea. She had 3 cats that she adored, a light cream cat, a tabby, and a Siamese. Her favorite fast food was chow mien noodles, which she'd ordered no less than five times in the last week. She spent the small hours of the morning cross legged on her sofa, typing on her laptop. He had even caught snippets of her stories from her mind as she wrote them down.

But for all his research, he couldn't comfort her when faced with this nightmare.

"Do you trust me?" he asked softly.

"No," she sobbed. "I hate you."

Her words tore at his heart, even though he knew she didn't mean them. Gently he scooped her up and walked back to the club's parking lot. He gently set her in the passenger seat of her car and extracted the keys from her handbag. He buckled her in and took a moment to wipe the tears from her eyes before closing the door. He seated himself behind the wheel, turned the keys, and drove her home.


	3. Chapter 3

Jas carried Maddie into her apartment and kicked the door closed behind him. The entire ride home, she'd been silently crying. Tears were still streaming from her eyes, even though she lay quietly resigned in his arms. He set her gently on her sofa and knelt beside her and tenderly wiped the moisture from her face with his fingertips. He arranged her coat to cover her seductive garb to protect them both from his burning need for her. If he had to look at her in such a vulnerable, attractive state, he wasn't sure he could control himself.

Even as Maddie despaired of saving Diesel, Jas's overwhelming helplessness stirred her heart. He was desperate to sooth her, convince her that he wasn't the evil monster she'd named him. She glanced at his chiseled features, his expression implacable, unreadable, but her gift of empathy told her he was almost panicking at his inability to take care of her.

Jas took a moment to collect his thoughts before speaking, "Perhaps we need to examine the nature of your vision. It was brief, yes?"

"Yes."

"Are you sure he was dead?"

"Well, not really."

"Did you see me harm him?"

"No."

"Did you see how he was hurt?"

"No."

Jas gathered her hands in his and looked deep into her hazel eyes. "You have a gift. For some reason, Time itself opens to you to show moments of inevitability. I wish I could lie to you and promise that Diesel will not be harmed, but lifemates cannot tell untruths to each other. I fear it is very likely that Diesel will be grievously wounded, and I will be there to see it. But I vow to you now that I will do everything in my considerable power to prevent his death."

Maddie felt his absolute resolve. He would not let her down in this. Her nightmare might come true, but it didn't have to end so tragically. For years she'd only believed the worst about her nightmares. He was offering her hope.

"Ok," she breathed, her lip still trembling. "I believe you."

He leaned over and kissed her softly. His tongue traced her lower lip, and she opened her mouth invitingly. Their tongues dueled softly. Maddie moaned into his mouth. Her body was smoldering with raging hormones. Adrenalin, terror, hope, and raw lust all battled in her. On top of that, she could feel Jas barely holding back his own raging emotions. He needed her, every instinct urged him to claim her.

His fingers traced the contours of her throat, feathered over her collarbone, and pushed back the lapels of the trench coat so his thumbs could gently caress the top of her breasts.

"You said you'd killed before," she mentioned in a trembling voice. "Who?"

"Would you believe me if I told you I was a vampire hunter?" he asked softly.

Maddie would have laughed if she hadn't sensed his absolute honesty. "No such thing," she protested.

"Your disbelief credits my people's skill at covering up all evidence of those abominations," he said, the corner of his mouth quirking slightly.

Maddie smiled faintly and felt his wash of relief. "Your people?" she repeated. "Do you work for the government or something?"

"Or something," he affirmed.

"What are you?" she finally demanded.

"What do you think I am?"

She looked at his face again, her eyes searching for something, anything, a clue that her vision had been wrong. "I don't know what to think," she finally consented. "I saw you, kneeling beside Diesel, covered in blood. You had fangs and your eyes glowed red...Is that a vampire? Are you a vampire?"

"I am Carpathian," Jas explained as he soothed her hair. It was rich auburn, like polished mahogany wood, soft and glossy like fine satin. He could spend hours just touching her hair. "I am a hunter of the evil and the undead."

"Diesel doesn't have an evil bone in his body," Maddie sighed.

"I do not like you worrying overmuch about another male." He leaned over to kiss her. He had to feel her lips on his.

"I'm not your fianc e, you know. I barely even know you," she whispered between kisses. "Why did you tell Diesel that?"

"I sensed that fianc e was a better choice of words than uncle or boyfriend," he replied teasingly. "And I have every intention of making you mine for all eternity."

"Eternity is a long time," she warned. Maddie wanted to fight him. Somewhere in her mind, her instinct of self preservation was screaming at her to push him away, shove him out the door, anything. She knew what men were like. They only wanted one thing didn't care about what they had to say to get it. She was too street smart to fall for his little love story. But at the same time, she had never wanted to believe in anything more than she wanted to believe in Jas. His strength, his sense of humor, his urgent need to comfort her.

"I know," Jas breathed. His lips left her mouth to trail along her jawline and down her throat. His tongue caressed the hidden hickey until it burned and throbbed with the attention. "I have endured an eternity without you. Without emotions. Without color. Centuries of lonliness."

"Centuries?" Maddie murmured, confused. "How is that possible?"

Jas paused in his affections and locked his blue gaze with her hazel one. "Do you want the truth? It is not easy for most to accept," he cautioned.

"I'd rather you tell me the truth and have a hard time believing you, than have you tell me a lie and trust it immediately," she replied with absolute conviction.

Admiration, pride, and even love swept through Jas. Maddie could tell he was immensely pleased with her response. He kissed her again because he had to. Even trying to be patient as he was, it was difficult to keep his mouth off of her.

"I told you I am Carpathian," he said softly. "My people are what you might call immortal. We can endure centuries, millennia even, if we find our lifemate. Our existence is balanced between the dark and the light. Our males are of the darkness. We are predators, the guardians of our race. Our females are the light. They are anchors, guides, the vessels of life for our race. Every male must find their other half, or he will be consumed by the darkness of his own nature. If he succumbs, he becomes vampire. I have held out against the demon inside me for over fourteen hundred years, fighting the vampire and searching for my lifemate. Now I've finally found you."

He watched her as she accepted all his words, tucking them into her heart.

"And you think I am your lifemate?" She finally asked softly.

"Yes," he answered honestly.

"But I can't be," she whispered, close to tears again. "I'm nothing special I'm a stripper!"

Jas smiled crookedly. "You don't strip," he reminded her. "You don't put out, and you don't do favors."

"But I'm mortal. We'll only have a few decades together before I'm so old and wrinkled you won't want to look at me!" she cried.

His hand cupped her face and his thumb stroked her cheek. Maddie couldn't help but feel cherished when he looked at her like that.

"Every minute I spend with you is worth those centuries of darkness," he insisted. "And if you choose to join me in the beauty of the night, I can bring you fully into my world."

Maddie looked at him skeptically. "What do you do, put a spell on me? Or do I have to drink an ambrosia smoothie?"

Jas paused for a moment before confessing, "We would need to exchange blood three times."

"As in...you drink my blood...and I drink yours?" she asked suspiciously.

He nodded.

She stared at him while she processed his words. She pushed herself up from the sofa and scrambled away from him. He let her go, giving her space to come to terms with the truth he'd just given her. She walked into the kitchen and leaned against the counter, softly thumping her forehead against the cupboard. She dragged air into her lungs and reassessed her position.

That evening she'd had a vision foretelling that one of the best friends she'd ever had was fated to get horribly hurt, maybe even killed. Her new...patron? Boyfriend? Stalker?...claimed to drink blood, hunt the undead, and want to spend eternity with her. Not to mention that her own unusual gift of empathy was confirming the validity of everything he was saying. At least, she could tell he believed what he was telling her with unshakable confidence.

Was it really so strange? As a classic fantasy fan, Maddie found his story not difficult to believe at all. Certainly, it was different from the everyday, but his whispers of love in the night were infinitely preferable to her current everyday. A little voice deep in her heart whispered, would it be so bad if she trusted him?

So an immortal wanted to hook up. So what? Judging from his behavior so far, it was definitely a step up from her usual exploiters. The absolute worst that could happen would be contracting rabies. It wasn't as if she was going anywhere, career wise. She never stayed in one place long enough to seek higher education. Dancers were a dime a dozen, and had a very short shelf life. She wrote, but she could do that any time, day or night, and authors were reputably crazy people anyway.

In all her years of depending on her wits in an uncertain world, she had vowed never to lie to herself. Deep down, she needed to trust him. She wanted to trust him. Ever since she was a teenager she'd run from her visions, thinking if she left, they wouldn't touch her loved one. Or at least she wouldn't have to witness them a second time for real. Who knew, if it didn't work out, she'd have plenty of time to figure out what to do next.

Maddie turned around to tell Jas. He was standing right there, looking at her as if he wanted to eat her up.

"What are you thinking?" he asked huskily.

"I'm thinking a few ageless decades might look good on me," she replied. "Especially if you save Diesel's life."

Jas rolled his eyes expressively. "Again with the other man!" he groaned. He glided closer, pushing her against the counter top. "I think you need to spend some time focusing on me. I have waited centuries for this night."

"Why? You expecting something?" she breathed.

"You could say that." He leaned forward to take possession of her mouth. His kisses were molten, thickening her blood with desire. "Do you truly give yourself to me?"

"Yes," she gasped. "I'm giving you the last ounce of hope in my heart."

"I claim you as my lifemate," he whispered in her ear. "I belong to you; I offer my life for you. I give you my protection, my allegiance, my heart, my soul, and my body. I take into my keeping the same that is yours. Your life, happiness and welfare will be cherished and placed above my own for all time. You are my lifemate, bound to me for all eternity and always in my care."

As he recited the beautiful words, Maddie felt her soul connecting, all the raw ends finding comfort with his. It was like two magnets clicking together, puzzle pieces fitting perfectly, all the holes in her soul filled with warmth and substance.

His kisses sent prickles of pleasure down her whole body. He nipped her jaw line, kissed his way down her throat, and scraped his teeth over her pulse. He didn t cloud her mind like the last time he took her blood. She felt his sharp incisors sink into her throat. Sharp pain burst from the bite, and then pleasure rushed in as his lips caressed her. She clung desperately to the counter ledge, her legs jellied by the sheer eroticism of his feeding.

Softly, he closed the wound with a hot swirl of his tongue. Supporting her with one arm, his other hand swiftly unbuttoned his black silk shirt. One fingernail sliced his pectoral deeply. Taking advantage of her dazed state and before his blood could spill down his chest, he pressed her mouth to the wound.

Maddie s tongue felt the raw edges of the slash, tasted his hot, ancient blood. Hesitantly, she lapped at his offering. At first it was coppery, salty, strange to her tongue, but then it turned spicy, savory, even a little sweet. She consumed his life force feverishly until he pulled her away. He kissed her, letting the aftertaste of his blood and hers mingle on their dueling tongues while he healed his wound with a passing thought.

Incapacitated by the swelling bulge between his legs, Jas dragged Maddie to the kitchen floor. She went with him willingly, pushing him back and straddling his hips. His jeans were too tight. He took his hands off his lifemate for the briefest moment to unzip them. Then he reached for the front of her corset. He deftly undid the busking, letting her full breasts spill out before his eyes. He pulled it out from under the trench coat and discarded it. Quickly, he took one nipple in his mouth, scraping his teeth over the sensitive flesh.

Maddie cried out in sheer pleasure. She felt like she was going to explode in the fiery inferno of their lovemaking. She drew out his hard member and stroked it lovingly. She was in too much of a hurry to shed her entire costume. She reached down to her hot core and pulled aside the crotch of her lace panties. Positioning herself over him, she slowly slid herself onto him.

Jas moaned with pleasure as her sheath enveloped him. Hot, wet, pulsing with life and passion, it nearly drove him over the edge. His hands gripped her hips, holding her still while he dragged air into his burning lungs. He glanced at Maddie s face and knew he was in trouble. Mischief gleamed in her eyes as she struggled to grind her hips against his, delighting in his loosing battle for control.

The beast in him rose up, and with a quick move, he rolled her over, his hands cushioning her head as he drove himself deeper into her body. She wrapped her legs around him obligingly, her sheer stockings rubbing harshly against the skin of his waist. He took her invitation and began urgently thrusting into her. Neither of them were considerate of the romance of the moment, only of the all consuming fire burning in their veins.

Maddie felt the orgasm start, like a tidal wave swelling as it reached the shore. Her manicured nails bit deep into his back as she arched against him. The wave of pleasure broke, and she convulsed, screaming his name over and over. Jas felt all her muscles constrict around him and it was too much. With a final thrust, he fell over the edge. It was all he could do not to fall on her as her orgasm washed through her.

Finally, the scorching fire melted away and they both lay on the cold kitchen floor, drenched in sweat and panting.

"Wow," Maddie breathed.

"Agreed," Jas grunted.


	4. Chapter 4

"I think I need a shower," Maddie whispered.

"Me too," Jas grunted. He pushed himself up and stood gracefully, even though his legs were weak from release. He held out his hand for hers. After a moment, she slipped her fingers into his large palm and he pulled her to her feet and into his still hard body. He wrapped his muscled arms around her as he pulled her close. He grinned suggestively before his mouth captured hers in a burning kiss.

"No!" she cried and slapped both his shoulders in defiance. "We're not starting over again."

"Why not?" he whispered with a wolfish smirk.

Her eyes narrowed. "Because, I need a little space right now," she said and firmly twisted away from him.

He let her go with a sigh and watched her cute butt fairly scamper out of the kitchen.

In the shower, Maddie let the hot water pour over her as she leaned on the wall. She thought she should be furious with herself for what she just did. It was totally out of character and against all her rules. She'd fully intended to wait until she knew him better before surrendering her body to him. She'd wanted him to work for it, but instead she'd been overwhelmed by his urgent need for her.

No, it wasn't fair to blame him. Her body was also at fault; she needed him as badly as he needed her. She couldn't help wanting more. She felt complete with him, and after all she had committed herself to believing him. Even though she'd consented and enjoyed everything, she was still trying to comprehend everything. She couldn't just back out because the intensity of their lovemaking scared her.

Then again, a complete 180-flip on her lifestyle wasn't something that happened every day. And it wasn't normal for her to drink blood—and like it! She could already feel the evidence of his powerful blood in her body. Every water drop from the shower splashed and danced upon her skin. The roar of cascading water rang in her ears. She felt sensitive and alive.

She closed her eyes and let the steam and water envelope her, easing the rising aches from their romp on the kitchen floor. She tried to think of nothing and everything, to just let her chaotic thoughts settle in some sort of manageable pattern.

Jas wondered around Maddie's small apartment, taking in what he had been unable to see from outside her window. His mind slipped into the minds of her cats, and found warmth and affection there. They did regard him with mild mistrust, although it was more because he had just been the cause of such a racket in the kitchen.

Mischievously, he peaked inside her closet, just to see what was there. Half of it was filled with risqué outfits for her work. The other half was dedicate to sweaters, over-large t-shirts, and dark jeans. A jewelry box was on one shelf and he passed a hand over it to understand the contents; it was all cheap metal and plastic beads. He would have to remedy that.

Because he couldn't help it, his mind reached out to hers. He wanted to touch her always, be with her always, and wrap her up in his arms safe from the world. He found her struggling to comprehend what had just happened. She still had faith in him, was determined to give the last shred of it to him, but her self-confidence was shaken. She had just behaved like a tramp, mounting him on the kitchen floor the way she had—not even undressing fully, as if she had somewhere else to be. His heart clenched as he realized the connotations of their joining. It was one thing to be caught up in the first mating ritual between life mates, but at what cost?

Although she knew in her heart that _she_ was different from other dancers, and _he_ was different from just about everyone on the planet, she couldn't bring herself to believe quite yet that _they_ had a real future together, that their union was not based on lust and mind games. She held on to the hope that her union with him could save Diesel from her nightmare, and that perhaps her surrender to him might make up for all the times she'd run from her horrible knowledge of the inevitable, leaving her loved ones to endure it alone.

Jas couldn't take it any longer.

She knew the moment he slid silently into the bathroom and behind the shower curtain. Her eyes were still closed, but she could feel his emotions radiating off of him like light from the sun. He wanted her, naturally. He always wanted her. He was worried about her, genuinely concerned for her health and happiness. He wanted to give her space because he had read the fierce independence in her mind, but her harsh admonishments of herself were unacceptable.

His arms slid around her and pulled her close. She felt so fragile. When he held her, he was afraid he would hurt her. She buried her face against his neck and shoulder, and wrapped her arms around his waist. He felt so solid, so powerful. When he was near, her insecurities seemed silly and childish. Neither could say anything. They stood their together under the shower for a while, just enjoying the feel of each other, communicating empathically until their hearts synchronized and the tension drained away.

Finally, Maddie leaned back and turned off the water. Jas followed her closely out of the shower. She grabbed a towel and wrapped it around herself. Then as she went to leave the bathroom, she stopped at the mirror and stared at her reflection.

Her hair, even wet, seemed redder, like rubies lit by candles. Her hazel eyes twinkled like tourmaline, and her skin seemed smoother than before. It was slightly different than the last time she remembered looking at her natural face in the mirror. She was used to seeing herself as a sex object, but now (a little vainly she consented) she was sex personified. She felt it in Jas's eyes as well, knew he was seeing her as every erotic dream come true. She was the burning embers of passion in the night.

"So at least I can still put on my makeup," she mused with a wry twist to her smile. "Do I need to avoid garlic, silver, and tanning salons?"

Jas chuckled, discovering the petty superstitions about vampires amusing when she said it like that. "The only thing that can hurt you is the sun, kittling," he replied. "I'm afraid that is the price for our immortality."

"What about food?" she asked. "Can I eat anything besides blood?"

"Before the conversion, it would be best for you to keep your strength up with organic produce, juices, and whole grains, and to stay away from dairy and meat products," he suggested. "After the conversion, I'm afraid almost all food will make you sick."

"So no chocolate?" she demanded, her face going suddenly serious. "No cookie dough ice-cream? No coffee?!?"

Jas kissed her on the top of her head and smiled at her in the mirror. "No, my love, none of that. You may, however, enjoy the taste of me."

Maddie rolled her eyes and slapped at him over her shoulder. She very haughtily walked out of the bathroom to her bedroom and fished in her drawers for undergarments.

He followed her, his skin dry with a passing thought. He left himself unclothed, purposefully, and leaned against the door as he watched her. Blatantly ignoring him, she dropped the towel and slid on a pair of regular black cotton underwear. She also put on the plainest black bra in her drawer. Then she grabbed a pair of running shorts and an oversized t-shirt with a grizzly bear printed on the front. This was comfortable—and most importantly, not sexy. Just normal.

She turned to face him and her heart started to pound. He looked so perfect, like an ancient roman statue, so casually leaning against her door frame. His broad, solid jaw reminded her of the large wolfhounds and mastiff dogs she adored, but it also hinted at his tenacious nature, and she suspected that now he had his teeth in her—literally!—he wasn't about to let go.

"What you're wearing now becomes you far more than anything else in your closet," Jas murmured softly, meaning it.

"Well, I can't wear it to work," Maddie felt the need to point out.

"Then I don't think you should ever go back to work," he said.

"It's not like I want to," she admitted without thinking, "But I have bills to pay, cats to feed…"

"We've been over this before," Jas reminded her, not moving from his casual post at the door. "I am independently wealthy, honeysweet. You will never need to worry about finances again."

"I'm not a canary in a cage," she snapped. "Just because I dance in a cage once in a while doesn't mean you can throw money at me and I'll keep singing for my supper. You want to have a relationship? Then keep your money out of it."

Jas did move now. He glided up to her, so swiftly she barely had time to step back before his large hands gripped her shoulders. "Do you intend to keep dancing?" he demanded.

"Y-yes! I was lucky to get this job, I'm not about to throw it away!" she cried.

"Then listen well, my darling," he replied in a low, menicing voice. "I may have some patience, but I am a very jealous man. If you place yourself in a position for other men to lear and lust after you, I cannot be responcible for my actions."

"You j-joined my patrons for a week," Maddie stammered in her defence.

"And you did not notice that there were less every night?" he smiled with cold humor.

She stared at him in horrror. What sort of monster had she tied herself to? She felt the violence in him, the satisfaction in the memories of taking each patron's blood, forcing each one to stay home, confess to wives, instilling each of them with a fear of returning to the club. One he had taken the pleasure of forcing him enter the nearest police station and confess his rape crimes to the first officer he saw. She knew Jas had not really harmed any of them, but the beast in him had barely been kept in check.

He lifted a hand and stroked her cheek. He didn't like seeing the fear in her eyes, but for her own good--and the good of all mortals--she had to know who he truly was.

"Tomorrow, we will go to the club together, and espress to your employer that you wish to resign," he said, giving her job as much respect as possible.

"Like hell," Maddie spat. "I'll find a way to save Diesel myself! Get out!"

Jas drew her close into a crushing embrace, lifting her off her feet. With a tought, the sliding glass door slid open to the balcony, and he flew into the night with Maddie in his arms.

Maddie saw the lights of Las Vegas rushing away beneith her. She squeezed her eyes closed as her stomach lurched.

_You do not comprehend what I am,_ his voice snarled in her mind. _I am of the earth, the air, the water. I can direct the lightening, create wonders from thin air, and change the chemical makeup of anything I tough. For centuries, I have endred bleak existance, feeling only pain and hunger. I have killed men I grew up with, slaughtered armies who threatend those under my protection. I am the monster you named me, and only you can keep me from turning into the very evil I hunt, killing mortals and imortals alike. _

His rant was vividly punctuated with memories of his grey existance before he'd seen her walking into the club. She felt the colors come alive, burning his eyes with their sweet intensity. She felt his arousal when he'd first seen her dancing, his rage at the other men learing at her with perverted throughts filling their minds. He had tried to be patient, given her exhorbedant tips in hopes that she'd quit on her own, change her life, accept him. Save him.

Maddie trembled at the intensity of Jas's convitction. She felt icy drops of water splash on her face and looked up. The desert sky was perfectly black and clear of clouds. The water had come from the tears streaming down his face.


	5. Chapter 5

Jas flew for a long time, long enough for his tears to dry. Finally he touched down on the top of a large bluff and relaxed his hold on Maddie. Unwilling to endure her walking away from him, he backed off first. He turned away to watch the waxing moon approach the desert horizon.

Maddie could feel his emotions starting to come under control. Most of all, he felt hurt by her rejection of him so quickly after she'd committed herself to him, and that made her ashamed.

She summoned all her courage and followed him. She wrapped her arms around his waist, and leaned her head on his shoulder blade.

"I'm sorry," she whispered. "I don't think you comprehend me yet, either. I tend to get defensive when men try to buy me off. Occupational hazard, you understand. I'm not really special or brave, like you seem to think. Most of the time, I'm scared. I've just gotten used to pushing myself through the petrifying fear with sarcastic remarks and a haughty attitude. I've been alone most of my life." When he didn't say anything, she filled the silence with her own words. "My first nightmare came as a child--I was maybe nine years old. I saw my best friend die in a car crash. Night after night, this terror visited me, until my parents wanted to put me on medication! Then my vision came true. I'll never forget the look of horror and revulsion in their eyes. My next nightmare came in high school. I dreamed that a friend would be killed in a murder-suicide by her boyfriend. I begged her to stay away from him, to never ever be alone with him. Within a week it came true. Then there was my boyfriend, Kenneth." She caught a flash of rage from him, that another man should have meant something in her life. "I dreamed he would get hurt overseas. He went into the navy and was shot. He survived, but still suffers from post-traumatic stress. The floodgates opened, and I saw nightmares at every hour of the day. Friends, acquaintances, even perfect strangers. Once, I screamed in math class because I saw a pole-vaulter from a rival school...in my vision, I saw his pole snap, the splinters flying, his head crashing into the ground...his neck break. The final straw was when I saw my best friend raped by a teacher. I glued myself to her side, determined to prevent the atrocity. But it turned out that there were two teachers, and I was the second victim." His rage, icy and sharp, boiled under the surface. She held tight to his waist and kept talking, unsure of what else to do. "So I ran, and I've been running ever since. Dancing was easy after that--and no matter what town I moved to, I was always able to find a club with an empty pole. Most times I could get paid in cash every night. But I could never stay long, or the nightmares would start again."

He stood silently, shielding the specifics of his thoughts from her. With her gift of empathy, however, his emotions were an open book. He understood her aversion to money as anything more than a necessary evil of survival. He had not meant to offend her, but he was confused. He didn't know how to make her happy, yet his soul demanded he wipe the shadows from her heart. He ached for her suffering, but still held himself back, as if afraid of her judgment upon him.

"Talk to me," she demanded softly. "Tell me anything...everything."

Jas took a deep breath. "My mother died in childbirth," he started. "My father lasted long enough to leave me on a human's doorstep before he faced the dawn. As a child, I was passed around from home to family. No one really knew what to do with me. Prince Vlad found me after some years, tried to find a Carpathian couple to take me in. But I knew no one really wanted the responsibility of caring for a foundling. That's what Trovatelli means; foundling. I cannot remember my real parent's surname. I left my Carpathian foster home when I could barely hold a shapeshift. I lurked around the mountains for a while, traveled north into Russia, west to Italy. I was a guest of the Vatican for a few years, much to my embarrassment. I had to be rescued by Gabriel and Lucien. I learned quickly, though, and soon I was a full fledged hunter in my own right. I fought Turks, Mongol hoards, so many foes that they run together. When Prince Vlad asked for volunteers to battle the vampire in other lands, I did not feel worthy to stand next to his loyal hunters for a noble cause. I was an outcast. I always have been. After the greatest of us had left, I took it upon my self to patrol the world, fighting what evil I found. I discovered, as many vampires must have, that it was easy in spring and fall to traverse the northern pole in the shape of a polar bear during the long nights, and thus, the new world was open to me." He turned around in her embrace, his hands caressing her face. "I have seen and done many things unknown to our people. I have endured torture, and tortured men myself. I have studied in the greatest temples of the east, explored the west before any other European set foot on the American continents. At one point, I was accepting virginal sacrifices in the south pacific."

Maddie, who had been listening wide eyed to his life's story, suddenly snorted in a mixture of disbelief and disgust, but she didn't move. She kept her arms locked firmly around his waist, patiently listening to everything he had to say. He smiled weakly at her intense devotion and his thumb traced the shadows of her throat.

"The only thing that kept me on this earth was my sense of duty, the honor my parents impressed upon me before birth. But it wasn't enough. I was weary of the hunger and pain. I had planned to return to the mountains of home and greet the dawn so that my ashes might find some rest. I do not come to you with any nobility. I have no reputation among my people, barely enough connections to call myself Carpathian. I may have physical wealth stockpiled in banks, safes, and caves around the world, but I have always been poor in the manor of love. Without even a friend to exchange an oath to seek the dawn, as many of our males did. I did not think I would ever find a life mate, let alone deserve her. Deserve you..." Suddenly he dropped to his knees and wrapped his arms around her, leaning his head against her stomach. "I am a wretched creature, but I beg you...love me," he sobbed.

Maddie's arms wrapped around his head as he wept into her t-shirt. She felt his desolation as sharply as her own. What a pair they made, betrayed, abandoned, and exiled by loved ones and their own natures. She wanted to give him those three words that would sooth his soul, but they had not passed her lips in recent memory, and she could not force her tongue to shape them. Instead she held him close and let him vent all his strange and violent emotions. They stood like that for what felt like hours.

The cool desert wind was turning frigid in the small hours of the morning. Maddie shivered in her shorts and t-shirt. Jas looked up, concern in his eyes.

"You are cold," he said as he stood.

"Just unused to being in my skivvies at night in the middle of nowhere," she replied with a small smile. Jas returned the smile and swept her into his arms. Perplexed with his macho display, she asked, "Is this how you treated your virginal sacrifices?"

"They never held the slightest interest for me," he assured her.

"Ah, so you needed a worldly woman," she teased.

"Only you."

Maddie smiled. "That reminds me of a song..." she mused allowed.

"Would to sing it to me as I take you home?" Jas requested as he glided into the air.

She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled herself close to his ear as she softly crooned, "_Said I, many times, love is illusion...a feeling result of confusion...with knowing smile, and blasé sigh...a cynical so-and-so was I...I felt so sure, so positive...so utterly, unchanging-ly certain...that I never was aware of loving you...til suddenly there was love...and you...and I... In this world, of ordinary people, extraordinary people, I'm glad there is you...In this world, of overrated pleasures, of underrated treasures, I'm glad there is you...I live to love...I'd love to live with you, beside me...this road's so new...but I'll muddle through with you...to guide me_._ I'm glad...there is you...only you...just you-oooo..._"

Jas shivered with the beauty of the words and Maddie's voice. He felt her song wrap around his heart, comforting the old, aching scars. Soon, they were back in Maddie's apartment. Dawn was sounding the advance He glided through the open balcony door and gently set her on her feet. He couldn't let her go. He had to touch her, kiss her, every inch of her body needed to be memorized before he left her for the day.

Maddie drew him towards her bedroom door. "Come to bed," she whispered. "I want to fall asleep and wake up in your arms."

"Sweet," he muttered roughly, "I cannot stay with you and sleep the day away."

"Why?" she demanded, worried about him.

"Carpathians sleep differently than humans. I would appear dead, without breath or heartbeat," he explained, his expression pained at the truth.

"Ah, yes. I can see how waking up cuddled to a corpse might strain our relationship," she teased to cover up her concern. "Then go find your coffin and I'll sleep the day away with my cats t comfort me. I'll wait for you tonight, and we'll go talk to Diesel about my quitting dancing forever," she couldn't help but smile at the idea, "and perhaps ways we can save his life?"

"Tonight, kitling. It's a promise," he said. His mouth descended on her once more, tender and loving as he kissed her deeply, passionately, completely. He filled her mind with fatigue, sending her to sleep in his arms. Then he laid her in her bed and tucked her in. With a final kiss on her forehead, he sealed the compulsion to sleep until he woke her the following evening. As he left her apartment, he wove the most intricate safeguards he knew. Then he sailed off over the rosy desert to a cavern where he could sleep in peace.


	6. Chapter 6

Maddie felt like she was being smothered by sleep. She became aware of the phone ringing. After a three rings, the answering machine picked up, but the caller didn't leave a message. Then the phone began to ring again. It took two more un-left messages for her to drag herself from under her dense comforter and into the living room to answer the phone.

"Yeah?" she croaked.

"Madalyn!" Diesel sounded relieved. "You're late--you're never late. Are you alright? Do you need me to come get you?"

"I'm fine, Diesel," she grunted, her voice dry and gravely.

"You sure? Is that man--he said he was your fiance--did he hurt you?" he demanded.

"No. No, not at all," she assured him, finger-combing her hair back. Her mind was slowly remembering the events of the previous day, the nightmare, her panic attack, Jas rescuing her. She blushed at the memory of their passionate lovemaking in her kitchen. Then she sighed as she remembered the night-time desert flights. "What's wrong?"

"You're late!" Diesel replied emphatically. "When I told Barry, he wanted to know if you'd gone with someone called Rodger Judge. Who the hell is Rodger Judge?"

"I don't know. I certainly didn't go home with him. Jas took me home," Maddie said, starting to panic.

"You'd better come to the club and talk to Barry," he advised. "He's not in a good mood."

"He won't be in a better mood after I talk to him," she muttered.

"Why?" Diesel demanded.

"I'm quitting."

"What? Why? Did Jas offer you another job? Is he bullying you?" Diesel demanded.

Empathy didn't work over the phone, but Maddie could tell Diesel was in over his head. Not only was he worried about the mysterious circumstances surrounding her departure the previous night, but there was Barry to contend with. Barry was always trying to prove to the owner that he could take on more responsibility at the clubs, but so far, none of his flashy attempts to win favor had worked, and more than one had nearly cost Barry his job. All the dancers were afraid of the day that Barry would go too far and ruin the club they all affectionately called their home.

"I'll be in as soon as I can," she promised. She hung up the phone and stumbled to the shower. Chaos reined supreme in her thoughts. She'd never heard of anyone called Rodger Judge. Why would Berry want her to go with someone she didn't know? There must be more that Diesel wasn't telling her for the always-suave bouncer to be worked up so much. She had to get down to the club and--

Suddenly she felt Jas. He was awake, near to her...He was--

Strong arms wrapped around her before she could step into the shower. Maddie sighed with relief as she sagged in his embrace. Jas brushed a kiss on the top of her head as he gently dragged her out of the bathroom. She turned in his arms as they stumbled into her bedroom and his lips found hers. He kissed her with such fiery passion that she thought she might go up in flames.

They fell on her bed together, their arms and legs wrapped up and tangled together. Jas thought away his confining clothes, needing to be as close to Maddie as possible. On his rising, he'd felt her fear, confusion and panic. In his concern, he'd come to her before he'd fed. Now, with her in his arms, he couldn't get enough of her. He frantically pulled off her shorts and shirt, and soon her underwear also was discarded. He needed to feel her soft skin, run her hair through his fingers like fine silk, kiss every tender spot on her body.

Maddie couldn't explain the profound relief she felt as Jas lavished frenzied attention on her. Part of her had been afraid that the night before had just been her taxed imagination, but now that he was with her, his muscled body pressing hers into the bed, she couldn't deny his was real. Gloriously, erotically, deliciously real. She stretched out lazily in front of him, reveling in the hungry look in his eyes, the waves of arousal rolling off his body.

Jas kissed her again, his tongue sweeping into her mouth to taste her. He trailed fiery kisses down her throat, over her collarbone, to take possession of one rosy nipple. She gasped with pleasure as his teeth scraped over it. His insistent mouth traveled down the valley of her breasts to tease the other nipple. She gasped again, one hand cupping the back of his head, her fingers burrowing into his thick black hair.

He couldn't help him self; as his mouth traveled over the swell over her breast, her scent, her taste, it all became too much for him. He sank his teeth into her. She let out a short, shocked scream that quickly turned into a groan of pleasure. He would never get enough of the taste of her blood. She was somehow earthy and etherial, sweet and savvory, spicy and crisp. He drank deeply, for the third time in his life easing the terrible hunger of the demon inside him. With an effort, he finally closed the wounds with a hard, slow lick, inciting another moan of pleasure from his lifemate.

For the second time, his fingernail lengthened and he sliced open his own chest. Something like hunger mixed with deep erotic desire stirred in Maddie when she saw the glistening red wound. Without urging, she licked and kissed her way to his ruby offering. She drank deeply without compulsion, savoring his unique and utterly masculine taste. When she felt her hunger ease, she pulled away, a little shocked with her actions. Jas didn't let her dwell on it before he kissed her, letting her taste herself on his lips.

She surrendered willingly, opening her arms, her legs, her heart to him. He knelt, for one moment, his throbbing manhood waiting at the entrance of her core. Then he slowly, agonizingly, pushed his way deep into her feminine folds. She was slick, hot, and still so tight. He gasped with the initial pleasure. Then he withdrew partway, pulling a small moan from her at the same time. Then he thrust deeply into her. His mouth captured her whimper at his delightful invasion.

Slowly, Jas built up a rhythm, sliding out and pushing deep. Maddie wrapped her legs around his hips to provide him better access while keeping him from escaping her. Their hands roved over each other, cupping, stroking, scratching, soothing, and in every way possible, bringing the other pleasure. Jas merged with Maddie and knew how to increase her pleasure, shifting his hips to drive deeper and faster into her molten sheath. Maddie knew what he wanted almost before he did, and accommodated his large body just as quickly.

Soon, their fevered pace had her keening and moaning. Then her orgasm barreled through her, taking her by surprise. She arched against him, convulsing in thundering waves of pleasure, calling his name over and over. Jas managed two more deep strokes before his own climax seized hold of him, burst in every blood vessel in his body, and he spilled his seed deep inside her. He leaned on his elbows, holding up most of his weight as he tried vainly to regain his breath. Maddie was seeing white spots, and highly suspected she was hyperventilating, but couldn't stop panting with post-orgasmic exhaustion. Maddie closed her eyes, and noticed absently that her heartbeat was falling inline with his.

"I love you," Jas whispered between labored breaths. "I know you don't think I know you well enough, but I do. And I do love you."

"What could you know?" Maddie asked, not in defiance but in honest wonder.

"I know you write stories about justice, and happily-ever-afters, and all the things you think are missing in the world," he said softly as he swept a few strands of rich auburn hair out of her face. "I know that fifty-percent of the money you get from dancing--including the tips I gave you--went to shelters for battered women and children. I know that you rescued all three of your cats when they were barely a week old from a potato sack tossed in a dumpster. And I know that you are unequaled in compassion and kindness."

"Yeah, yeah," Maddie rolled her eyes to hide her delight at his sensitive insights. "Fat lot of good it does me."

"It eventually led us together," Jas observed. "So I would think that would be the greatest good for you."

"What good is a chauvinistic jerk? All you're good for is sex," she replied teasingly.

"Ah, but I can be good for so many things," he murmured as his lips fluttered along the large tendon in her throat. "I can be your agent and get any of your manuscripts published. I can build you the palace of your dreams. I can be the father of your children."

She pressed a finger against his lips and gave him a warning look. "We'll stick with the first two for now, and I'll forget about that third option because I'm still having a little trouble wrapping my head around drinking your blood."

He smiled behind her finger. "It's perfectly natural between lifemates, honeysweet," he assured her.

"For _Carpathian _lifemates, perhaps, but not for humans, and technically I'm still human until the third blood exchange," she reminded him. "And I still think it's _weird_!"

His smile turned into a laugh as he gently rolled off of her. One column-like thigh still pinned her legs to the bed as he nuzzled her hair. "I love you," he repeated.

"Then let me take a shower," she scolded with a playful gleam in her eye. "We have to get to the club tonight. I'm quitting, remember?"


	7. Chapter 7

Maddie and Jas stepped into the shower. As was becoming usual between them, they didn't need words to express what they needed. Warm water washed away the sheen of sweat. Jas took great pleasure in lathering the loofah with cherry-sandalwood body wash and soaping her down from her throat to her hips. Her knees almost gave way as his slipery hands wandered over her sensitive skin. He kissed her as the water swept away the bubbles. One finger slipped inside her hot core, and she moaned into his mouth. Her knees trembled, and she had to lean against the wall to keep from falling.

Easily, Jas lifted her up by her hips and she wrapped her legs around his waist. Then he slowly lowered her on to his ridged manhood, piercing her with exquizid pleasure. His feet braced against the sides of the bathtub, he began grinding his hips into hers. Maddie reached up and grabbed the shower curtain pole as he stroked her sensitive parts. She moaned and whimpered as he continued to casually, slowly make love it her. The water droplets splashing on her skin only heightened her pleasure and excitement. He bent his head to take one peaked nipple in his mouth. She cried out as his teeth scraped over and over her breast.

Time stretched on as the pleasure mounted in both of them. Like slow moving but glowing lava, molten pleasure piled, pooled, and swelled inside both of them, until with a final scream the orgasm overtook Maddie. Her muscles clenched hard, and Jas plunged deep into her one last time before he also succumbed to the pinnacle of their love. His legs were weak, and it took most of his strength to stay upright as pleasure rippled through them both, the aftershocks feeding off of one another.

Maddie unwound her legs, her knuckles white with her grip on the shower curtain bar. She gave herself a few more seconds to let the running water take away the new evidence of their lust. Then she turned off the water and very carefully exited the bathtub. She grabbed a towel and wrapped it around her, without thinking she also handed one to Jas. Obligingly he accepted it.

She went to her room and habitually reached for her sexy outfits. Then she felt a flood of warmth, reasurance, and love from Jas, along with the distincive feel of a wink. She remembered that she was quitting, and didn't ever need to wear corsets and fishnets again.

"I would not mind if you occasionally donned such apparel for my enjoyment," he whispered in her ear. Maddie turned to smile at him and saw he was fully clothed in black jeans, a dark blue button down shirt, open at the collar to show a twinkling silver chain.

"How did you do that?" she demanded. "I didn't even see your clothes on the floor."

"Do what?" Jas asked, mischievously innocent. "This?" His clothes melted away from his olive skin and Maddie gasped. Just as quickly, they reappeared.

"How--?"

"I am of the earth. Manipulating and changing natural fibers is simple. When you join me in the night, you will also have this ability," he explained.

Maddie stared and then laughed. "Can you do that for me now?"

Jas smiled and eloquently waved his hand at her body. She looked down at herself and scowled. Jas had given her an off-the-shoulders cotton sweater that had a neckline so low her bare breasts spilled out. And instead of soft denim jeans, he had wrapped her legs blue chaps, leaving her completely vulnerable to his eyes and lusts. Emphatically she caught his amusement and mounting desire.

"Hey, finish!" she scolded. "I have one last job to do and I can't do it like this."

With a regretful sigh, he waved his hand again and her clothes filled in the gaps. "I prefer you without any garments, anyway," he said a tad sullenly.

Maddie's mouth quirked at his boyish attitude. "Lets, go," she said.

They went down stairs and Maddie waved to her super who was watering the cactus outside the apartment buildings. The middle aged man raised an eyebrow when he saw Jas. In response, Jas swept Maddie under his arm, his hand wandering down from her shoulder to her waist, and then down to squeeze her butt. She playfully batted at his shoulder, but she couldn't hide her smile.

They got in the car, Maddie pointedly taking the driver's seat. Jas relinquished the position of power and folded his long legs into the passenger seat. The drive to the club was quick and quiet. Jas continuously sent his life mate waves of love and reassurance, pride at her for taking such a leap. He was humbled by her faith in him, her willingness to put her life completely into his hands.

At the club, Maddie lead the way to the dancer's door. Inside she sought out Diesel, who was standing beside the bar, a cup of coffee in his hand in stead of the usual bottle of beer.

"Madalyn!" he cried with relief and swept her into a bear hug. She felt the burst of jealous rage from Jas and diplomatically extricated herself from Diesel's grip. Jas was beside her instantly, one hand protectively around her waist.

The two men stared at each other, Jas blatantly challenging Diesel to protest his possession of Maddie, and Diesel nervous about the man he vaguely remembered from months past, but couldn't shrug off the feeling of pending doom the dark man radiated.

"Where's Barry?" she asked by way of ending the staring contest between them.

"He's in the office," Diesel said, waving at the red door behind the bar.

Maddie turned to Jas and looked him in the eye to make a point. "I'm going to talk to Barry and sort some things out. You stay out here, and--" she held up a placating hand as she felt his protests rise, "I will call you when I need you."

Reluctantly, he nodded. Satisfied, she slipped through the door.

Barry was an ex-body-builder, with muscles to spare. Where Diesel had the build and attitude of a rhino, Barry was sculpted by steroids and obsessive weightlifting. Diesel had tattoes, but Barry had "body art" starting at his neck, down his shoulders, along his arms, around his back and waist, and (every dancer suspected) even farther down his body. He shaved his head and face and didn't seem to have a single body hair on the rest of his glistening body.

When she entered the office, he was standing behind the desk, pushing files and official documents into a box. For all appearances, he was ransacking the office of everything legal.

"Mads, there you are!" he said a little desperately. "Did you meet Rodger Judge last night?"

"No," she said slowly. "Who's that?"

"My new partner. We're opening up a small club in one of the casinos on the strip, and I want you to work for us."

"I'm quitting," she said sharply.

"Good to hear it," Barry said, mistaking her meaning as he grabbed more documents. "You can start some cage-work tonight if you like."

"No, I mean I'm quitting the buisness," she clarified, a little miffed at Barry's traitorous attitude. "I'm never dancing for money again."

"What?" Barrie cried, for the first time looking at her face. He noticed that she was even more beautiful in simple clothes. Maybe it was a new makeup, but she fairly glowed with loveliness. While he was a callous man when it came to sexual desire, having lived and worked in Vegas clubs all his life, he couldn't help the quick erotic fantasies that flashed through his mind. He knew she would look even better in his new club, he just had to get her there. "Is it money you need? I'll pay you well--more than you got here. And you can keep all your tips."

Maddie felt his rush of lust, and it turned her stomach. She felt Jas just outside the door, waiting for her to make any indication that she needed him and radiating reassurance and pride in her. She took courage from him and stood a little straighter.

"It's not about money, Barry. You know I've never been career-dancer material," she said. "I'm done with being eye-candy for scumbags. It's over."

"Maddie, be reasonable," he pleaded. "This club is a dump and you know it. Just try out my new place, just for a couple of weeks."

"It's not going to happen. And what are you doing here?" she waved her arms at the disarray of the office. "Mr. Sees is going to be _pissed_ when he gets here."

"I'm taking what's mine," Barry snapped. Swiftly, he came around from the desk and grabbed her arm. "And I'm not leaving without you. I'll make you the dance manager--anything you want. You're the best dancer here, and I'm not going to let you get away."

Maddie felt Jas pressed close to the door, and only her soothing waves of reassurance were keeping him from breaking in and forcibly removing Barry's hand from her arm and his body.

"I'm a writer, Barry," she said clearly and proudly. "I'm done. You need to leave this club." She looked deep into his eyes and felt Jas's power moving through her towards him. Barry snatched his hand away from her as if she had burned him. Then he walked jerkily out of the office, forgetting the box of papers he'd feverishly been filling.

Jas came up behind Maddie and encircled her in his strong arms. He nuzzled her hair, enjoying the smell of her.

"Are we done here?" he asked, huskily.

"I think so," she said as she relished his body heat. "What about Diesel?"

"We will keep tabs on him," Jas assured her as he guided her out of the office. Diesel was there, looking concerned.

"Are you really quitting?" he asked, a note of sadness in his voice.

"Yes," she replied.

"And is this sucker really going to take care of you?" he gestured at Jas.

"The best care," she assured him.

"Then let me walk you out," he said resignedly and lead them out the front door of the club. "I'm glad you're getting out, Madalyn. You deserve better than this."

"And I intend to give it to her," Jas growled affectionately. Diesel couldn't help but smile as he pushed the doors open, leading the way into the parking lot.

He stopped suddenly, turned back to look at Maddie and Jas, consternation on his features. Then he fell to the ground, blood pooling around him. Maddie screamed. Jas was instantly at the bouncer's side, probing with his mind to discover the nature of the wound. Someone grabbed Maddie from behind, digging a gun silencer into the small of her back.

"He has been shot," he said and looked up at Maddie to reassure her. His face darkened and his eyes burned with blue and red flames. He bared his long teeth, ready to spring on her captor.

A whistling ping came from behind Maddie, and a red dart embedded itself just below Jas's collar bone. Jas looked down at the dart, one hand moving to pull it out, but before he could reach it, his body slumped over as if paralyzed. Maddie felt the pain crawling through Jas's system as he slowed his heart and breathing to prevent the drug spreading.

"I don't know what you did to me back there," Barry hissed in her ear. "But I'm not about to let you get away. You're my ticket to the big time. Mr. Sees didn't know what you were when you walked into the club asking for a job, but I saw you for what you were. See, we're alike you and I. I know you're psychic, because I am too. I don't know who this chump is, but Judge said if a tall dark stranger ever came lurking around that that poison dart would take care of him. And Judge hasn't steered me wrong yet."

Maddie's stomach was knotting as she stared at Barry and Jas, both lying like dead men, unable to say anything in response to Barry's monologue. Her nightmare had only shown her part of the horror, and the reality of it was nearly suffocating. She wanted to scream and rage, but shock numbed her limbs and voice. She couldn't believe that the powerful man who'd claimed her life could be taken out by one small dart. Grief started welling up deep in her.

_Be at ease, kitling, _she heard his smooth voice in her mind. _I will not allow a small thing like death come between us. Be strong, and I will be with you shortly._

Barry pulled Maddie toward his black Lincoln. Maddie was stunned at Barry's treachery and relieved that Jas was let herself be hustled along, streetwise enough to fein compliance. She knew that Barry wanted her alive for some reason, and that gave her an edge--because she was more than willing to see him dead for what he had done to Diesel and Jas. She would bide her time, find a weapon, and then Barry would learn first hand how cruel a woman could truly be.

Jas watched through cloudy eyes as the black car drove away. The pain from the poison dart was excruciating. He turned his attention inward to examine it, but didn't understand what he found. It was like nothing he'd ever seen before. Desperate to nullify the poison and rescue his life mate, he did the one thing he'd avoided at all costs for the last 900 years. He called out to his people.

_Hear me. I am an ancient, loyal to the prince of our people. My life mate has been taken from me, and I have been poisoned and am unable to follow her. I require immediate aid._ He filled his broadcast with as much truth and urgency as possible.

After a moment, he received a reply, strength and competence infused in the voice, _I am Aiden Savage. Let me see the toxin in your blood._

Jas sent him the information quickly, opening himself up to the stranger's probing. Quickly Aiden dissected the chemical makeup of the poison and gave him directions to break down and cleanse his body. Added to his directions was strength to keep unwanted audiences away. The poison was not as sophisticated as some of the more recent biological weapons used against their race, and although it was painful, it was quickly cleansed from Jas's system.

_Do you require further assistance?_ Aiden asked.

_Possibly,_ Jas replied. _I will feed and retrieve my life mate, but there are dark influences here that must be dealt with. Las Vegas might be a cespool of the vilest of humans, but something_ else_ is lurking here, feeding off of it._

_I will leave now and be with you on the next rising to exterminate this threat,_ Aiden said and cut off contact.

Jas restarted his heart and lungs, and looked down at the inert form of Diesel. A quick mind probe revealed that the bouncer was still alive, barely. Jas gathered his strength and shed his body. As a being of pure energy, he entered Diesel's body to repair the damage. The bullet had shattered a rib, passed through the left lung, and lodged itself in his shoulder blade. Left unattended, he would bleed out in a mater of minutes, and had already lost too much blood. Jas poured power into Diesel's body as he healed the man enough so that human paramedics would save his life. He boosted the marrow's red blood cell production and melted some of the man's own fat stores to provide energy for the healing.

When he pulled out of Diesel's body, he was weak with fatigue. Still, he could not leave the man to lie in his own blood while he waited for the paramedics. Gritting his teeth, he pulled one of Diesel's arms over his shoulder and gently lifted the muscular giant, dragging him back in the club. The regular patrons gave him a wide berth, but the dancers felt no such compulsion. In fact they rushed to his side before Jas could call them to him to take care of the bouncer.

"What happened?" cried Sidney.

"Barry shot him," Jas told her shortly.

"That son-of-a--" she cursed.

"I need you to call the paramedics," Jas insisted.

"RIght," Sidney agreed, and called over her shoulders, "Sparkle! Kandi! Get over here!"

Jas melted back into the shadows of the nightclub and, pushing his waning strength, shielded himself from prying eyes. He crept up behind on of the regulars, extended the blurring effect around his chosen victim, and sank his teeth into the man's neck. His mind quickly ensnared that of his prey, and soothed away all feeling, numbing the man completely. Jas fed, then released him and quickly pulled another regular into the shadows. All the while he kept an eye on the dancers. They were oddly calm, keeping track of Diesel's vital signs and clearly instructing the paramedics to the club. Sidney got on stage and announced to all the guests that there had been a family tragedy and it would be best if everyone left.

When Jas had finished feeding, he disolved into vapor and left the club.


	8. Chapter 8

"You'll like the new club," Barry assured Maddie as they wove through the typical Vegas traffic. "It's very Gothic. Judge insisted on a Victorian-Dracula theme, said that a specialty club brought in more money than a regular club."

Maddie stared out the window while her captor rambled. She could tell Barry was trying to cover up his nervousness and glee. After all, he'd just killed the two men standing between him and his possession of her.

"Who is Rodger Judge?" she asked softly.

"He's a guy I met at this Morrison clinic," he explained. "I got roped into coming because the clinic studies psychics and pays big money for you to guess the picture on the other side of a card. Anyway, they were more interested in girl psychics. But me and Judge figured that a club in Vegas that was filled with psychics could make a killing without any trouble from the authorities. So we grabbed some supplies and slipped away while no one was looking. That's my talent actually," he said rather proudly. "I can be almost invisible when I want to."

He looked over to see how Maddie was taking his little story. He wanted her to be impressed, but she looked bored and aloft, staring out the window at the passing cars and club signs. The silence between them was almost crushing and he didn't know why. He was drop dead gorgeous—he knew it—lots of dancers had draped themselves on his oiled muscles. Plus, any dancer would jump at the chance at the money he was offering.

"I picked out this little shackle-and-chains outfit for you. You should wear it tonight, to get off on the right foot," he suggested. He paused for a moment to picture Maddie in the outfit he'd chosen, with her wrists and ankles shackled to the bars of a cage. Then he imagined himself in the cage with her, pressing her against the bars. It was a delicious vision.

Maddie caught not only his aching lust, but for the first time the more specific pictures in his mind. Her stomach heaved and she quickly covered her mouth, swallowing the bile that rose in her throat.

"You getting carsick?" Barry asked, worried about his leather interior. "We'll be there soon."

He looked sideways at her as she once more forced herself to relax in the passenger's seat. She was luminescent, even at night with the tinted windows blocking out most of the neon light from the strip. Her skin, paler than he remembered, looked like rose petals. Her eyes were smoldering green and gold fire, her hair draped around her face like silk ribbons. Even without her customary dark eyeliner marking her as a Gothic lover of the dark and macabre, she seemed to ominously blend with the shadows.

"Who was that guy anyway?" he asked. "I saw him lurking around your stage for the last week. Did you finally start taking johns?"

Maddie slowly let out her breath as she felt Jas flying through the air, following the car. She smiled as he got closer, a touch of cruelty lighting her eyes as she turned to Barry.

"Funny you should mention him," she said very softly and sweetly. "He is my life mate. He literally swooped in and changed me forever."

"Yeah, whatever," Barry harrumphed as he turned back the task of driving. He skidded to a stop in front of a red light with a curse. He wanted to get to the club as quickly as possible, but he knew better than to pull stupid stunts in Las Vegas traffic.

"I wasn't finished yet," Maddie continued. Her mesmerizing voice sent chills down Barry's spine and he glanced over at his prize. She was staring at him with sadistic glee. He felt her eyes boring into his soul. "He is your worst nightmare. You were right to peg me as a psychic of sorts, but do you even know what my abilities are?"

"You're an empath," he grunted. She was cool—icy even. She looked as if she were the one who had kidnapped him, not the other way around. It was giving him the creeps. "You can manipulate the emotions of those around you."

The corners of Maddie's mouth curled in a twisted smile. "That's only half of it," she assured him. "My other gifts involve seeing the future. In particular, the inevitable deaths of those close to me. You asked who Jas was? I can tell you with absolute certainty that he is your executioner."

Suddenly, all his visions of taking her in a cage, in his new office, on the dance stage, to turned dark and ugly. His fantasies distorted in his own mind's-eye and became nightmares: he cowered beneath her stiletto heel; he was raked raw and bloody by animal claws; his wrists were bound with sharp wire to his chair as his desk and office were set on fire.

He jerked in his seat, trembling with the realistic terrors flashing before his eyes. He blinked hard to refocus on Maddie's face.

He snapped his head around when something thudded on the hood of his car. Jas crouched in front of Barry, his eyes blazing, his fangs glistening. Barry screamed in terror. Jas punched through the windshield and grabbed Barry's head. He ripped the man bodily out of the car seat and through the glass, throwing him into the middle of the busy intersection. Maddie and Jas both felt the exact moment when Barry died under a pickup truck's wheels.

Maddie calmly stepped out of the car and waited for Jas to spring down from the hood. Jas scooped her up and launched himself into the night sky. He left in his wake a quick numbing pulse that would erase the last 10 seconds of memory for anyone who had glimpsed his supernatural revenge.

The two life mates flew silently for a moment before Maddie asked a little sarcastically, "I bet your sacrificial virgins never had to go through this sort of thing before they got their necks nibbled."

Jas groaned, and regretted ever telling her that particular tidbit of his history.

"No," he muttered through clenched teeth. "Their loved ones simply dumped them in the basement of my temple. I fed, left a mark on their skin, implanted a vision of something beneficial for the tribe, and dropped them off at home again."

"Did anyone suspect your true nature?" she asked mischievously.

"The local legends varied a bit, but they all believed I was a messenger of the gods, and my only dues were paid in untainted blood," he answered with a casual shrug. "It helped that I defeated several lesser vampires lurking in the area."

"So you never deflowered your virgins?" Maddie teased.

"Not a one," he said with absolute conviction. "Although I 'flowered' several with a tattoo-like-birthmark in the shape of some local blossoms. I believe those women became much revered in their villages."

"What did the flower mean?"

"Fertility." Jas inhaled the scent of her hair, reassuring himself that she was with him once more. "I healed their wombs so that they could bear children."

"Aww, how sweet!" she crooned. "You really do have a soft, fluffy heart under all that macho junk."

"It was merely in the interest of self-preservation, kitling," he corrected gently. "The more children born to the tribes I cared for, the more sustenance they could provide in times of need. I felt no emotion towards those women besides hunger."

"I'd bet they'd be hysterical if you killed someone in front of them," Maddie mused. "The innocent can be so fragile."

"Did you want me to spare Barry's life?" he asked, already knowing the answer.

"No," she replied, without the slightest fluttering of guilt. "He would have killed you and Diesel, raped me, and committed who-knows-what-other crimes before human justice caught up with him. And then he would have received a slap on the wrist and some skinny, sniveling probation officer would be to terrified of him to keep tabs on him. His cycle of violence would just start over again. Now, however, he will answer to the ultimate justice."

Jas smiled into her hair. He had taken many lives over the years, human and vampire alike, and he had fended off hysteria, indifference, glee, lectures on tolerance, religious sermons, and grief-fueled revenge attempts. Never until now had he come across someone who saw evil for what it was and understood the ultimate judgment was not in this life, that a death sentence was merely preventing more tragedy before true justice could be measured. Jas knew he would stand before his maker responsible for every life that had slipped away under his hands, but he was confidant in his decision in every instance. Especially this last one.

They glided over the twinkling lights of the city and ended up back at Maddie's apartment. They landed softly on the balcony and Jas bent down to kiss her. His hungry moth devoured her, and she gave equally in passion and desire. The sliding glass door opened as he pushed her into her apartment.

"I need you," Jas whispered, his honesty stark in the silence of the night.

"I thought you might," Maddie gasped as his lips assaulted her body.

Their clothes melted away and they fell back on the bed. Their lovemaking was long and tender through the slow hours of the early morning. Finally exhausted, they cuddled together, as close as possible, legs and arms entwined.

"The sun is about to rise," Jas whispered as he nibbled gently on her ear.

"Does that mean you're going to leave again?" Maddie asked. Somehow, the thought of him sleeping away from her embrace was terrorizing. She didn't want t to let him go. He was the only thing that kept her sane in the face of her nightmares.

"I must. I need the earth to heal my wounds before battle tomorrow night," he crooned. He inhaled the scent of her hair. He would never get enough of that strange perfume that was uniquely her.

"Battle?" Maddie demanded, sitting up. "What battle?"

"Did you not feel the strange taint in Barry?" Jas asked.

"Barry was always a jerk!" she cried. "And he's dead now. You're not about to battle a grease spot on the pavement."

A smile quirked his mouth and he wondered how he had endured the centuries of bleak existence without her adorable wit. "No, I intend to find Rodger Judge, and discover their connections to the Morrison group."

"Why? Why do you need to go anywhere near them? They're probably just some weird wiccian cult with a new spin to attract modern crazy people. Please, just forget about them."

"I cannot," he sighed. His large palm cupped her cheek. Her skin was so soft, so delicate. Her hands clutched him to her face and she kissed the pad of his thumb even as a tear rolled down her cheek. He continued, "The Morrison group is in league vampires, perhaps it is even entirely controlled by them. They use humans and modern research to create biological weapons such as the poison that immobilized me. It is not a group we want to leave unattended."

"But...but..." Maddie wanted to find a good reason, any reason, to prevent him from leaving her side. She was becoming desperate.

Jas slid his hand so that his fingertips covered her lips. Those perfectly kissable, luscious lips. "I will not be alone, my love. I have called another hunter to my aid, one who has more experience in the dealings of the Morrison group. He is also an ancient, his power legendary and much feared by the undead."

Maddie felt his resolve, the weight of his duty, his faith in this other hunter. She sighed, and even though it nealry broke her heart, she replied, "Then I can do no other than wait for you to return to my arms. Only be careful to not let one lunatic lay a finger on you, or I will be very upset. And you don't want me upset."

Jas chuckled and drew one of her hands to his lips that he might kiss each finger. His body began to dissolve into mist as he did so. _Sleep, honeysweet, and dream only of me,_ he commanded. Maddie slumped over in her bed, allowing his compulsion to send her into a deep sleep as she watched the sparkling mist that was her life mate slowly drift out a crack in a window.


	9. Chapter 9

Late afternoon brought rolling thunder clouds to block out the desert sun. Jas walked out of the unusual twilight mist with a sword strapped to his back. He met the golden apparition, and they clasped forearms, the greeting of ancient warriors. Aiden eyed the long Katana sword strapped to Jas's back.

"You are not seriously bringing a sword to a gun fight, are you?" he asked softly.

"If it is the sword that brought down Brushogen, then yes," Jas replied with a dark smile and cold eyes.

"The invincible artist-warrior made of ink?" Aiden blinked in disbelief.

"A vampire," Jas assured him. "This sword was forged specifically to defeat him and others like him. It also destroyed a vampire calling himself Huitzilopochtli, founder the bloodthirsty Aztec culture in Central America, as well as many lesser vampires in Oceania."

Aiden held out his hand, and asked with much reverence, "May I?"

Jas hesitated only momentarily before sweeping the glittering blade out of its sheath. He laid the handle in Aiden's hand. "I had planned to give this to the Prince as a parting gift before I met the dawn. But now that I have found my life mate, it will eventually be passed into the keeping of our children." A smile quirked his mouth. "In all my centuries, I never thought I would say that."

Aiden hefted the sword expertly. The crafting was truly that of ancient masters. His senses detected strong magic inlaid in every fold of the steel, the steel folded a thousand times for strength and flexibility. The metal itself was of unprecedented purity, each element in the alloy in precise harmony with the others, similar to the Damascus steel of the ancient world. He handed it back gingerly, all the power in the blade was making his fingertips tingle. "Impressive. Yet, you are unknown," Aiden stated, daring Jas to explain himself.

"That is the goal of every Carpathian," Jas replied evenly, "to remain unknown."

"Why have you not made yourself known before now?" he persisted.

"Because I knew awkward questions would be asked of me as soon as I showed my face," Jas countered with a small smirk.

Aiden smiled and bowed his head in respect. "Shall we?" he asked, gesturing in the direction of the city.

----- ----- ----- -----

Maddie's eyes opened. Jas was gone. She couldn't reach him. The thread that connected them was drifting in a void. Something horrible had happened, she was certain.

_**Where is he?!?**_ she demanded telepathically, sending a vicious set of snapping teeth along with the question.

A weak thread of gold power reached out to her. _He was taken..._

With those three words, Maddie emphatically knew so much more. This hunter was mortally wounded, abandoned in the desert. He was so weak, he could not even open the earth to hide from the inevitable dawn.

Maddie got up from the bed, dressed quickly, and pounded downstairs to her garage. She shoved a helmet on her head, gloves on her hands, and walked her dirt bike out of the garage. With a brisk kick, the bike roared into the street.

She felt cold, numb, and brittle as she furiously navigated the streets. Soon she was blazing through the desert, the connection she had made to the wounded hunter acted like a lodestone, guiding her to the fading Carpathian. He had been dumped north east of the Wash, a cats-cradle of dry riverbeds created by flash floods. The stoic storm clouds still covered the moon, the dark light easy enough to pierce with her improved night vision and more than matching her mood.

When she found him, he was so covered in dust and sand that she'd almost mistaken for a rock. Only the waves of excruciating pain radiating off him had given him away. She stopped her bike and looked down at the pitiful form in the dirt.

"You need blood," Maddie stated flatly. "I'll give it to you on one condition."

_What...condition?_ He mentally grunted, unable to muster enough breath for speech.

"_You will finish converting me."_

_I cannot...that is for Jas—_

" Jas could be dead!" Maddie screamed, hot tears pricking her eyes as she admitted it to the stranger. "I can't feel him anymore. So either you convert me, or I leave you here and walk into the dawn. Pick. Your. Poison."

_NO! _a panicked, distinctly feminine cry echoed in Maddie's mind. _Don't leave him!_

"Can you hear your life mate," Maddie bit out. "I can hear her. She knows you are dying, and I'm the only one who can save your life. So, the deal is: I'll give you enough blood so that I can get you back to the city where you can feed properly. And then you are going to convert me. I'll have the whole day to rest up before I destroy whoever took Jas from me." She projected icy grief to the hunter, making it perfectly clear she didn't care about her life, his life, his mate's life—didn't care about any life at that moment. All she wanted was to either find Jas or avenge his death. The weight of her mourning astonished the seasoned hunter.

Maddie felt his consent and knelt beside him. She took out her keys and used a pocket knife key chain to cut her wrist. She barely felt it as she pushed the opened vein to the hunter's patched lips. Weakly he drank the blood. For safety, she monitored him emphatically. When sufficient strength had returned, she pulled her wrist away. He caught it, brought it back to his lips, and courteously licked the wound closed. She felt him detach his spirit from his body and heal his own wounds, staunching the blood flow, from the inside out.

"I am Aiden Savage," he whispered as he pushed himself up. His arms were shaking with exhaustion.

"I don't care if you're fucking Marilyn Manson. Lets go." She grabbed his arm roughly and pulled him to her bike. "Hold onto my waist. And tell your life mate to shut up. I'll make sure you live at least through this day."

They drove west, and found a resort. Maddie pulled up to the service entrance of the main hall. Aiden dissolved from behind her and streamed into a cracked window as a thread of mist. Maddie waited, the cool desert night air barely touching her. She could feel her heart turning to stone. Over and over she mentally reached for the familiar warmth of her life mate, only to find blank space. She tried every path possible, and a few she wasn't sure were supposed to exist. She reached for his conscious mind, his empathic connection to her—all came back with the same miserable, numbing result.

Aiden was behind her again. She felt enormous strength pulsing off him. He had taken more than enough blood to replenish him from the night staff of the resort.

"Save your strength and don't bother shifting until we get closer," Maddie told him.

"Let me drive," Aiden commanded smoothly.

She leveled a scathing look at him, her emerald eyes flickering with cold blue flames in the night. She didn't say a word. She didn't budge. Aiden was both intrigued by her abilities manifesting and alarmed that she had so much power with only an unfinished conversion. Finally, Aiden mounted the bike behind her and chastely placed his hands on her shoulders.

She took the bike down Kyle Canyon road to the mountains. They drove for another hour, Maddie staunchly shielding her mental screams, and Aiden quietly ignoring the stark grief that radiated from her. They wound up the road into the mountains for the better part of an hour. Finally, Maddie pulled into a small turn out. Aiden quickly dismounted and Maddie walked the bike into the bushes. She finished covering her bike from unlikely prying eyes and walked back out to Aiden.

"Lets do this," she said.

"Are you sure you do not wish to wait for Jas to return?" Aiden asked as a last ditch effort. "I will find him. He will return to you."

"Don't give me false hopes," she snapped bitterly. "I'm an empath. I know that you were taken by surprise, that you don't know how to get back in. I can feel your pain. I know that you're still terribly wounded and one day in rich earth won't heal you entirely. If Jas could reach me, he would have. Any flicker—no matter how small—I would feel it, and I would wait for him. But there's nothing. Without him, I am nothing."

"The conversion is painful," he warned her.

"It couldn't be more painful than this," she assured him.

"My life mate is not in favor of this plan."

"Let me talk to her." Maddie held out her hand. Aiden took it gently, but she barely felt it.

_You should wait, _the feminine voice from before insisted. She shared a few images from her own conversion. _Without a life mate for an anchor, the pain can destroy your mind._

Maddie said nothing, but opened her mind and heart to the strange woman hundreds of miles away. Stark loneliness rolled from her, through Aiden, and broadsided the woman on the other end. The crushing nothingness went on and on. Colors were fading, emotions and sensations were disappearing, everything good in the world was being sucked into the empty void consuming her heart.

Aiden dropped her hand, breaking the chain of darkness to his life mate. For the first time, he faced a female who held the same curse as the males of his race.

"Convert me. Give me the strength to avenge my life mate before I face the dawn. Don't condemn me to wait endlessly while I starve to death because I've already taken two steps into your world. Honor our union enough to do this," Maddie begged.

Aiden nodded, more to himself than anything. He bit his wrist and held it out to Maddie.

"Take freely what is offered, sister, that you and your life mate may be reunited," he said formally.

Maddie took it and drank. She barely tasted the powerful blood. She simply embraced the offering as a means to an end. Gently, Aiden disengaged her mouth and sealed the wound himself.

"We need to find a cave before the conversion starts," he said urgently.

"Whatever," Maddie said. "Take me wherever. I don't care."

Aiden reverently picked her up and flew into the mountains. Maddie didn't notice the twists and turns of the tunnel paths. He set her down in the middle of a dry cave carved from red stone.

"I never thought I'd have to endure a conversion twice," Aiden said softly as he sat down, his head in his hands.

Maddie turned a cold gaze on the worried hunter. "I only asked for your blood because you were the only one of your race in the area. Don't think it's because your anything special."

_You don't know what you're getting into,_ the female voice protested._ For a Carpathian man to see any woman in pain—especially one of his race—is a hard thing._

"Then get out," Maddie snapped. "Both of you."

"We will not leave you alone," Aiden said. "To do such would be unforgivable."

Maddie clutched at her painfully cramping stomach as she tried to argue. "I'm not—in the mood—for forgiveness." She fell to her knees as the pain overtook her. It burned, blistered, ate away at her insides. She screamed as the pain swelled until she couldn't feel anything but pain. Not the hard cave floor, not Aiden's soothing hands. She couldn't hear the ancient healing chant. She couldn't see beyond the bursts of red and white light behind her eyelids.

She convulsed, arching backwards so that Aiden barely caught her head before it smashed. Then she lurched forward so suddenly that he lost his grip and she slammed her shoulder into the stone floor. She rolled away from Aiden to vomit in one corner of the cave. She tried to crawl, but collapsed, her muscles shaking with the pain.

Aiden's heart went out to this strange woman. That she was so determined to avenge her life mate was both commendable and frightening. Fortunately his life mate Alexandria was there to help him should the burden.

_Our women are supposed to be the light to our darkness, _he told Alex despairingly. _Yet the darkness is welling up inside her. I do not want to hunt her should she turn vampiress._

_A super focused beam of light is a destructive laser,_ Alex reassured him._ If Jas is still alive, she can do no other than find him. If she cannot find him, she will greet the dawn. There is no desire in her to live without him. I'm sure I would feel the same way in her shoes._

_I hope you are right, _Aiden replied fervently.

The pain was building up in Maddie's body again. Just as she felt the sun send it's first rays over the desert through the weakening storm clouds, she screamed, both physically and mentally. Her anguished cries reverberated through the mountains and down into the valley. Many of the residents of Las Vegas shivered in the early morning light without knowing why.

Mercifully, Aiden sensed it was safe to send her to sleep. He did so with a quick order and laid her deep in the soil of the mountain. Then he retired to the richness of the earth, somehow wary of the destruction Maddie would wreak on her first rising as a fully fledged Carpathian.


	10. Chapter 10

The instant the last sliver of the sun disappeared over the horizon, dark emerald eyes opened deep under the earth. She reached out for Jas, only to find nothing. Again. The eyes closed as tears soaked into the soil around her.

It was a new sensation to become aware of six feet of soil pressing down on her chest. The weight (and lack of air) prevented her from taking a breath. It wasn't terrifying exactly, but if she actually cared about her life, it probably would have been. Reaching deep into the memories she'd shared with Jas, she moved the dirt aside.

Gingerly, Maddie stood up and brushed the dirt off her clothes. Calling on another shared memory, she floated out of the hole. Aiden was waiting for her. He looked golden and regal, and perhaps a little sad.

"I'm going back to my apartment," Maddie told him. He nodded. Without another word she drifted through the caves. She could smell the tiny zephyr of fresh air that lead the way out. She barely felt the refreshing cool night air when she emerged from the mountain. She dismissed her hidden bike and sailed over the city to her apartment building.

Using the same trick Jas had, she opened the porch sliding door. Once inside, she took a shower and dressed. Colors were fading, turning pale and bland like an old photograph, so she picked out black leather pants, a tight black shirt, and her black leather trench coat. She laced up the lumberjack boots that had been a gag-gift from Sidney.

Habit took over and she went to the bathroom to apply her makeup. She darkened her eyelids more than usual and added a curl under her right eye. The corner of her mouth twitched at the thought of cos-playing Death from Sandman, but even knowing how much Sidney would tease her over it didn't ease the vast emptiness of her heart even slightly.

When Maddie walked into the living room, Aiden was waiting for her. He was absently stroking one of her cats, the fat Siamese known fondly as Buddha.

"Where did you start?" she demanded flatly.

Aiden dropped his hand, much to Buddha's disappointment, and replied, "Jas had extracted the location of the club Barry was trying to take you to. This may be easier if we merged minds."

She prompted him with the merest arch of her eyebrow and opened her mind without hesitation. Aiden apprehensively merged his mind with hers. Maddie watched through Aiden's eyes as he and Jas walked into the Gothic club, cloaked from human eyes.

_It was empty except for one dancer in a cheap body stocking on a stage to one side. She was absently spinning, waiting, for someone—anyone. Even the bar was empty. They entered the back room, looking for Rodger Judge. Judge was there, and seemed sense their entry. He was nervous and twitchy. His mind was abnormally shielded against mental probing, so Aiden uncloaked himself to confront him, and if necessary take his blood. _

_Judge must of known what Aiden was, because he pressed pressed a button under his desk. Thugs poured into the room, firing semi-automatic dart guns. Poisoned darts him in multiple places on his chest, arms, and legs, and his efforts were instantly divided between fighting the humans and fighting larger, multiple doses of the potent chemicals._

_Aiden fell to the ground, and Maddie felt the wrench of remembered pain. She watched through his eyes as an invisible phantom quickly cut down the thugs swiftly with his sword. They sprayed the room with their dart guns, even as they fell dying to the floor. Only Judge was untouched by the deadly blade. _

_When all the would-be assassins were dead, Jas revealed himself to Judge. Jas sat on the desk, casually, conversationally, and held his sword tip perfectly steady so that it barely pricked Judge's Adam's apple. Judge stammered out his story. He was still part of the Morrison Foundation, looking for psychics. He was sort of a back-door operation—they didn't even get the high tech stuff the other field agents got, only the leftovers and out-dated stuff. He had his own chemists jack it up in back, of course. He claimed it was only for his protection. Vegas was a tough neighborhood after all. Jas was about to take his blood when the rain of poison fell from the ceiling. Aiden had almost recovered from the earlier assault when Judge tripped the booby-trap. Darts fell, piercing both hunters. _

_Judge gleefully rose from his seat, and through the haze of pain, Maddie watched in Aiden's memory as Judge stabbed Jas in the heart with a smooth wooden stake._

Maddie didn't say a word, but as she saw this in her mind, the last thread of gold left Aiden's hair, her eyes detecting only a glossy gray. Her entire world was like an old black-and-white film, now. Her heart literally stopped beating in her chest for a moment as the nightmare continued.

Aiden cleared his throat as he pulled away from Maddie's mind. He could tell the merge was affecting her. "Judge called more men to immobilize and put us in the back of a van. They bound Jas with thick steel manacles welded to a short bar. They thought I was weaker than him, so they left me tied with wire. In the back of the van, two men were left to watch us, occasionally injecting us with more poison. Jas managed to give them both fatal strokes before he blacked out. I dissolved into with the last of my strength, and flew out a crack in the door. You found me where I'd fallen in the desert."

Maddie absorbed the information with the barest flicker of an eyelash.

"I'm going to that club," she declared, and moved purposely towards the sliding door. Aiden's body glided to intercept her.

"We already tried that," he reminded her. "It got us no where."

"You forget that Judge wants me alive and well," she retorted. "You may follow closely, but do not interfere with my designs." Her eyes flashed in warning as she gracefully stepped around him and flew out the patio door and over the city of vegas.

She had seen the club name and gleaned it's location from Aiden's memories. She found the _Club Soirée Noire _with no difficulty. She paused in front of the heavy wooden doors, carved like a Gothic church's doors. She took a deep breath, put on her best pout, and pushed both doors aside like they were made of craft board. She sauntered through casually, and stood in the middle of the club, taking in the décor.

The same stripper in the same cheap body stocking stopped sliding on the pole to glare at her competition. Maddie pointedly ignored her. The bartender was on duty tonight, and three men were watching the sole stripper with indifference.

"I'm looking for Rodger Judge," Maddie told them very clearly. The men looked at her and were instantly attracted.

"I'll go get him," one man eagerly volunteered.

"Can I buy you a drink?" another practically begged.

"Come sit with us while you wait," the third suggested.

Maddie deliberately smiled and walked over to lean on the bar, giving the two remaining thugs and the bar tender a postcard-view of her cleavage. "You boys come here often?" she asked huskily.

The men were drolling so profusely, they couldn't answer. From their thoughts, Maddie could tell that her body was perfect, the curves of waist, hips, and legs peaking out enticingly from under her flowing trench coat. Her eyes glowed like emeralds in candlelit, her hair shone like satin, and the black makeup and clothing only emphasized her near-Irish coloring.

"Madalyn?" she heard a strange voice calling her name. She turned lazily to see the man who must be Rodger Judge. Her first brush of his mind confirmed the remarkable barriers. The man himself was tall, lean, and in good condition. He had dark hair that was silvering at the temples. He dressed in designer jeans and button down shirts. He had crafty pale eyes that devoured her figure. "Ah, Lady Death, I presume," he smiled at her makeup.

She held out her hand as if she were the queen bestowing a favor. "You must be the infamous Rodger Judge. Barry insisted that I meet with you."

"Yes, of course," Judge said as he took her hand and kissed the air above her fingers. "A terrible tragedy, his accident."

"It was the steroids, I'm sure. All the girls at the old club were trying to get him off them. Worse than crack," she mused, keeping her voice soft and musical.

"Would you like to come into my office?" he invited, well aware of the other men greedily leering at the woman.

"Actually, I'm much enjoying your club," she said as she stepped closer to him. She wrapped one arm around his shoulders. Seductively, she brushed his body with hers. "It's very classy."

"Well, specialty clubs are..." Judge forgot what specialty clubs were. He'd never met a woman as sexy as Madalyn DeMuir. He was confidant that she wasn't applying empathic pressure on him, but she didn't need to.

She pressed closer to him, both arms around his neck, pulling his head down to her level. "I'm sure I'll enjoy working here," she whispered in his ear, "...for you...with you...on you." She kissed his jaw line and down his neck. She could feel and smell his arousal, and it turned her stomach. Still she continued seducing him until her tongue licked his pulse. Her incisors lengthened and without hesitation she sank them deep into his neck.

Aiden seized hold of the spectator's minds with ease. For all they were concerned, Judge was getting the hickey of his life.

Maddie drank deeply, replenishing her body from the taxing conversion. She didn't taste it, but could feel the strength flowing into her. With her tongue, she sealed the wounds, but left a burning mark. Let him explain that to his superiors, a cold part of her mind said.

"Now," she said, all the seduction gone from her voice, "What did you do with the man you captured last night?"

Judge's mind opened up to her. _He'd been furious the night before that the two guards had somehow lost one of the captives. If they hadn't already been dead, he would have killed them himself. Still, one specimen was better than none. Even if he was as still and cold as the grave. The man wasn't moving or breathing, and there was no heart beat—but that was to be expected of someone with a polished white oak stake in their heart. Even so, the workers at the Facility still cuffed and shackled him to the gurney._

"_You afraid he's going to come back from the dead?" Judge had joked._

"_Yes," one of the aids had replied seriously. They wheeled him into the Facility, and one man remained. He handed Judge a briefcase and then turned on his heal and left. Judge got into the van and they drove through the desert back to civilization. Inside the briefcase was several million dollars, payment for delivering a specimen in good condition._

"_Get this van to the boys in my lab," he told the driver when they reached the club. "I want them to swab every drop of blood off this thing and see what they make of it."_

The wounded beast in Maddie lifted it's head with a long, vengeful howl, which she shared fully with Judge. She let him escape her thrall with the full knowledge of what had transpired between them. His mounting terror forced him to his knees. Shakily he lifted clasped hands to her.

"Don't k-kill me," he begged. "I'll do anything. Anything!"

Maddie grabbed the front of his expensive designer shirt, her claw-like fingernails tearing through his expensive shirt and scraping his chest as she jerked him towards her. "You're already a dead man," she hissed. "I'll take you into the sun with me, just as soon as we pay a visit to this facility of yours."

Judge began to weep. She ignored him as she plunged again into his mind to discover all his secrets. The copious amounts of poison were created by a group of drug chemists using a mixture of the older poison samples from the Morrison Foundation and very rare samples of the Bombay blood type. Using the Bombay blood to cut the poison samples, and then filling it with more toxins—even slightly radioactive isotopes—they'd created gallons of poison for their employers, effective on mortals and immortals alike.

Judge himself was a paranoid man. While he thrilled in his roll in the master plan of the Morrison foundation, finding and using psychic men and women, his secret fear had just come true: someone other-worldly had descended on the wings of justice, and no amount of booby-traps, backup plans, or desperate last attempts would save him.

Then she found the memory of the sword. Last night, Judge had picked up the katana forgotten by the thugs. It had resonated with power. Judge liked power. He had bought a ebony stand and mounted it in his office.

Maddie left the man sobbing on the floor as she entered his office. She dissolved into mist to avoid tripping any more traps and whisked the sword out of the room. It felt warm in her hand, welcoming, as if it recognized her as its master's other half. So familiar was the feel of the sword that she almost shed a few tears herself.

Shaking off the encroaching grief as she walked past Judge, she grabbed his hair with vicious intent. Sword in one hand and villain in the other, she left the club.

Aiden released the three men and the stripper from their daze. That lucky bastard Judge had just whisked off the sexy Gothic woman to a hotel. Who knew when he'd be back.

Outside, Maddie met Aiden and thrust Judge into his keeping.

"We'll use him to get inside the facility," she said. "And where he won't work, I will."

Aiden didn't mention how disturbing it was to see a woman using her body like a weapon. It was simply the way things were, the way life mates would do anything to avenge each other. He fervently hoped he'd never have to see this kind of suffering again. Only his constant contact with his own life mate made it bearable.


	11. Chapter 11

While Maddie's emotions were almost completely gone, her dark sense of humor seemed to be expanding to fill the void. For some reason, she couldn't get Marilyn Manson's voice out of her head, and the song of the night seemed to be "Halloween Town."

She hummed to herself as she stood beside Rodger Judge in front of the Facility door embedded in a cliff face. Aiden floated somewhere near as a faint mist, watching over her closely. If she could have been irritated by his behavior, she would have let him know with her middle finger. Instead, she used it to press the buzzer repeatedly until a small door slid open to reveal a video screen. A less-than-intimidating greasy man blinked into view.

"Who's there? Judge? What are you--" the voice behind the door was choked off.

"I'm a volunteer," Maddie crooned, one hand trailing over her body provocatively. "I have amazing psychic abilities I'm just _dying_ to show you."

"Damn," the man muttered, and he punched a button.

Maddie almost unconsciously started singing the words to the song she'd been humming. "Boys and girls of every age...Wouldn't you like to see something strange?"

The doors opened up and Maddie dragged the dejected man into the Morrison-run facility. She was almost instantly greeted by the video-guard man furiously finger-combing his greasy hair.

"I'm Hogarth—I mean, I'm Garth. What's your name?" he asked, his voice quavering like a teenager trying to ask a supermodel to the prom.

Her soft voice replied, "I am the one hiding under your bed... Teeth ground sharp and eyes glowing red."

Without warning, she seized him, wrenching his head around to expose his jugular, and bit his neck. Just a small snack this time, but the power was intoxicating. And why shouldn't this man die? If he had anything to do with those who stole from her, then he was guilty by association. It wouldn't take much. She just had to forget to stop. Then the world would be rid of one more piece of scum.

Aiden intervened with a subtle mind merge, reminding her of Jas. It was like probing an infected wound with a hot poker; the pain of emptiness screamed through Maddie's body, breaking her contact with her victim.

Licking the blood from her teeth, she ignored Aiden's disapproval and continued to sing in a lilting voice, "I am the one hiding under your stairs...Fingers like snakes and spiders in my hair."

Now with two men in tow, able to mine their memories at will, Maddie moved through the facility with confidence. It was incredibly sterile inside. Not even fine dust from the desert collected in the corners of painfully plane gray rooms. Of course, for all Maddie knew, the walls could be painted in pastels.

She confidently took corner after corner, her eerie voice echoing ahead of her. "In this town, don't we love it now?...Everybody's waiting for the next surprise...Round that corner, man hiding in the trash can...Some thing's waiting now to pounce, and how you'll--"

A woman doctor poked her head out of her lab and screamed. Maddie caught a glimpse of herself in the woman's mind before the door slammed. Maddie's eyes burned with the crimson aura of violence that clung to her, shifting so that her red hair looked like flames.

Maddie put one hand on the door and steadily pushed. She felt the crunch as first the door nob gave way, then the chair that had been wedged against it. She entered the lab and scanned for the woman. She was cowering behind her desk, clutching a fire extinguisher, praying silently that the succubus roaming the halls would leave her alone.

Maddie kept singing as she drew closer and closer to the desk, because it seemed to be the only thing distracting her from the crushing gravity of the black hole in her heart. "Say it once, say it twice...Take a chance and roll the dice...Ride with the moon in the dead of night..." She leaned over the top and peeked into the foot space. "Everybody scream," she commanded softly.

The woman obliged. Maddie watched dispassionately as the woman screamed over and over. Finally, the feeling of time slipping away compelled Maddie to silence the scientist with a wave of her hands. With her vocal chords paralyzed, the woman aimed the fire extinguisher at Maddie and fired.

Maddie smoothly flipped her hair out of the way, letting the woman hose her office chair with ammonium phosphate.

"Come out. Now," Maddie ordered, filling her voice with compulsion. The woman crawled out of her hiding space, covered in dry white powder. She was shaking, and Maddie did nothing to shield the woman from what was happening, although she did release her hold on the woman's voice. Her hunger sated for practical reasons, and wanting to avoid Aiden's particular brand of reprimand, Maddie decided against taking this woman's blood if she cooperated. "What do you know of the man with the stake in his heart?"

"Last night's Vlad Doe?" the woman squeaked. Maddie remained impassive, waiting for the scientist to continue. "We call all the unidentified vampires Vlad instead of John, after Vlad the Impaler, who some historians believe to have been the first Dracula."

"Yes," Maddie finally snapped, impatient with the woman's rambling. She knew Judge and Garth were standing behind her like lovesick yellow-fever victims, pale and glassy eyed. The woman flinched. "Where is he?"

"He's down in the basement," she whispered. "Please don't hurt me."

"Get me downstairs, and I won't," Maddie growled.

"Who...who are you?" the woman finally asked.

Maddies eyes narrowed, and she replied in a sing-song voice, "I am the clown with the tear-away face...Here in a flash and gone without a trace." She dissolved and appeared on the other side of the woman, and whispered cruelly, "I am the '_who_' when you call, '_Who's there?_' ...I am the wind blowing through your hair!"

The woman spun around with a shriek and gripped her desk edge for support. "A little too much Tim Burton as a kid?" she tried to joke to bolster her courage.

"It's just a song," Maddie reprimanded her as she advanced closer. "A song I happen to like at the moment." She could smell the woman's blood, refreshingly clean—she was a vegetarian. Temping. Sweet. Not powerful, but so satisfying. It pounded just beneath the skin, thundered in Maddie's ears and for some reason she couldn't take her eyes off the woman's pulse.

"Are you...going to bite me?" she asked hoarsely, looking close to fainting.

A hand gripped Maddie's shoulder and the woman shrieked again. Maddie rolled her eyes in annoyance she no longer felt.

"Do not," Aiden said softly in his perfectly pitched voice. "You do not need to terrorize this scientist to achieve your goals." He looked at the woman and bowed his head in an old-world gesture of respect. "My apologies. My friend has lost her...husband, and she's taking it hard."

Maddie brushed his hand away and walked towards the door. "Come show us the way to this Vlad of yours, or I'll change my mind about nibbling that luscious little neck of yours."

Aiden threw her a warning look, which she ignored. The woman slid around the opposite side of her desk and scurried past Maddie into the hallway. Maddie playfully clicked her teeth closed, the sterile light glinting off her incisors. "Come on, Miss Mouse," she coaxed.

"My name is Melanie Rochell," the woman replied, miffed. "And I'm a geneticist, not a mouse."

"Aiden Savage, hunter," Aiden replied as he glided after her into the hall.

"Madalyn DeMuir, former exotic dancer hell bent on avenging her murdered life mate. Can we move already?"

Melanie hugged herself as if she was cold and lead the way through more corridors to an elevator. She swiped her ID badge and the doors opened.

"He's three floors down," Melanie said as she stepped inside.

"My two gentleman friends, Dick and Hog will ride the elevator with you," Maddie informed her. "Should you lead us wrong--"

"I swear on my grandmother's grave!' Melanie cried. "He's down there. I checked on him just before dusk."

_He's there!_ A small, pitiful voice inside her cried out. Maybe...but then her morbid, realistic side took over. His _body_ was there. She wouldn't be able to do anything but gather his lifeless form in her arms so they could meet the dawn together.

"Still...Tender lumplings everywhere. " Maddie warned as she dissolved into mist. "Life's no fun without a good scare!"

"You need to lay off the cheesy horror," Melanie retorted, weirded out as Judge and Garth shambled onto the elevator like zombies. "It rots your brain." She punched in the code automatically and the elevator descended.

When the doors opened again, Maddie was waiting, leaning casually against the wall near the key card reader for the only door at the end of the hall. Melanie scampered out of the elevator, eager to get away from the two walking vegetables behind her. She swiped her card and stood back as the door opened.

Heedless of any traps or security systems, Maddie rushed into the room.

Jas lay cold and white on a stainless steel slab. His wrists, ankles, and neck were shackled to the table. The stake was still in his chest, but the blood was old and clotted. Maddie threw herself over him and sobbed uncontrollably. All sense had left her as she violently morned the death of her mate. She moaned and screamed as her fingers traced his face, his bull-dog-like jaw, his heavily lashed eyelids covering those blue alcohol flame eyes. They'd known each other for barely two weeks, but her world was dark and lifeless without him.

Aiden and Melanie stood back and watched the display.

"Wow, she really loved him, didn't she?" she murmured, her heart aching for the woman.

"You cannot conceive," Aiden replied.

"It's too bad," she sighed.

"What is too bad?" Aiden asked, catching a series of odd memories from the woman.

"That the transfusion didn't work," Melanie remarked. "My boss wanted me to try to revive him with animal blood transfusions. It sounded so crazy at the time, but if that witch is his wife, anything is possible."

"Anything..." Aiden echoed as he sent himself seeking into Jas's body. The damage was severe, but the poison had not yet destroyed his internal organs. Yes, his heart and lungs were quiet, but the animal blood had nourished his cells just enough it might have kept him alive, even in his dormant stage. "May I take your blood?" he asked Melanie suddenly.

"What?" she cried in horror. "No! Absolutely not! You're hot, but you're not that hot."

"You will feel no pain," Aiden assured her. "You will not even remember, if you do not wish."

"Then why ask?" she demanded.

"I was raised with courtesy," he returned. "I ask only so I may provide for the man on the table. I have not yet fed tonight, and his wounds will be draining to heal."

"But if the animal blood didn't work, then why should your—my—whatever—Why should more blood work?"

"That is a secret," Aiden whispered. "You only need know that it does."

Melanie looked back at Maddie sobbing over the cold body on the table, and her heart turned over. For as cruel as the woman had been to her, holding that much grief inside was bound to turn someone cold and bitter. She knew that better than anyone.

"Ok," she said. "Just do it fast."

Aiden smiled, looking more like a golden wolf than a gentleman. Gently he eased her into a trance and lifted her wrist to his lips. Melanie came to herself just as Aiden dropped her arm and strode over to the table. She looked down at her wrist and saw nothing. She felt her neck, but there was no soreness. She felt a little light headed, but otherwise fine.

"Stand up," he commanded Maddie. "We can save him." Maddie's sobs caught in her throat and she looked up at Aiden, her face stained with blood-red tears. "I need you to do exactly what I tell you," he told her gently. She nodded.

Aiden reached out and touched each of the metal manacles and they cracked, broke, and dissolved into small piles of dark dust.

"This would be easier if we had rich earth to pack his wounds with," Aiden muttered.

"Um, will potting soil work?" Melanie interjected. Maddie and Aiden looked at her questioningly. "My boss said to use it if I needed, but I didn't think I'd be planting petunias. I honestly thought it was code for saying I could grow marijuana in my office," she admitted sheepishly.

"Yes, it will do," Aiden replied. He turned back to the scientist as he left his body to probe deeper into the wounded Carpathian. The poison was not devouring his internal organs like some of the more modern Morrison concoctions. Instead, it was eroding them. Having read the general ingredients from Judge's mind, it was easy to burn out the last traces of poison.

Emerging from the cold body, Aiden directed Melanie to put some soil in a large beaker. Then he looked Maddie in the eye.

"I need you to remove the stake from his chest," he said, keeping his voice even and enchanting. "As soon as you do, you must pack it with the soil and your own saliva. At the same time, you must feed him. I will be inside him to speed the healing process. When he is strong enough to move, we will leave this place and go to ground."

"What about me?" Melanie asked.

"You may assist Madalyn in packing the wounds...if she will allow it," Aiden replied, feeling the ripple of jealousy from Maddie. He was cautiously optimistic; if she was regaining emotions like jealousy, Jas's chances of survival were significantly better than he first thought. Most importantly, he would not be forced to hunt a powerful and intuitive vampiress.

"No, I mean what will happen to me when you leave?" she demanded, panic creeping into her voice. "I've only been here a few weeks, and everyone is so suspicious here. If they found out I _helped_ a bunch of vampires...I...I don't know what they'd do to me."

"They would torture, rape, and kill you," Maddie said with chilling certainty. "But if you like cats, you can bunk in my apartment for a few days."

Melanie smiled hopefully. "I love cats."

"Let us focus," Aiden reminded them. "Maddie, you will find a chant in my mind. Repeat it as we work. You may also hear other voices joining in the healing chant, but do not be concerned."

Maddie nodded and summoned every ounce of courage. Wrapping one hand around the protruding butt of the stake, she pulled it out. She dropped it on the examining table and grabbed a handful of dirt. Spitting into it, she pushed it into the hole. Aiden shed his body once again and reentered Jas's body. Carefully he repaired the major arteries and regenerated organ tissue. The healing chant helped him focus on the job, and he heard Carpathian voices from all over the North American continent joining in to save the unknown ancient.

Maddie took a second from spitting into the soil to bite her wrist and hold it over Jas's lips. Life giving blood flowed into his mouth, and she prayed desperately that it would be enough. She stared at his face, begging God for some sign that her life mate was alive. A latex gloved hand gently touched her shoulder and she looked up. Melanie was beside her.

"If you want to just drool into the beaker, I can pack his wounds," she said.

"Wow, it sounds so normal when you say it like that," Maddie replied with a lopsided smile.

"After tonight, I'm ready to accept almost anything as normal," Melanie smiled back and moved the beaker closer to Maddie. Maddie obligingly opened her mouth and thought of the taste of Jas, the smell of his skin, the feel of his hands on her body. She began to salivate profusely, and soon Melanie had a beaker full of thick mud. Maddie closed her mouth and turned back to feeding Jas.

"I'm sorry...about earlier," she whispered, not looking at Melanie.

"Don't worry about it," Melanie replied as she smeared the last of the mud over Jas's chest.

Maddie glanced over and winced. "Can you not do that?"

"Do what?"

"Touch his chest like that."

"You mean grinding dirt and spit into the day-old wounds of a dead man?" Melanie replied, holding her dirty hands up like a surgeon who'd just finished a triple bypass.

"Just...don't. I'm sorry. He's special to me," Maddie explained meekly, her eyes begging Melanie to understand.

Aiden withdrew from the body and staggered. He leaned against the table as he caught his breath. "Call him, Madalyn. If he is able, he will answer."

Maddie held her breath and reached out one last time to her life mate. _Jas...Jas, please come back to me. I can't live without you. I need you. I want you. Please...please...please..._

For the space of a heartbeat, nothing happened. Then she felt his heart contract. Release. It gave another slow beat, then started up a slow, laboring rhythm. Tears of joy filled Maddie's eyes as his lungs inflated like an old bellows. Slowly, he was waking up.

_So, everyone came to the funeral to make sure I stay dead_, he thought to her. He sounded tired and far away, but he was coming back to her.

Colors burst in Maddie's eyes. Red blood. Brown dirt. The blue of Melanie's blouse. Relief, love, and gratitude flooded her heart, making it shudder under the assault of emotions.

"I thought I'd lost you," she sobbed.

_I told you before, I would not allow a small thing like death come between us. We are together forever, my love._


	12. Chapter 12

"We need to get out," Aiden gently reminded the reunited life mates. He looked down at Jas, still lying on the table. "Can you move?"

Jas nodded with extreme effort. He licked Maddie's wrist to stop the life-giving flow of blood. With help from Maddie and Aiden, he rolled onto his side and pushed himself upright. He rested for a moment.

"You are still weak," Maddie said. "If I give you much more blood, I won't be in any shape to help you if something happens."

"You do not need to protect me, kitling," he insisted. "Give me my sword."

Wordlessly, she handed him the Katana. He held it pressed against his chest and closed his eyes. Breathing deeply, he drew upon the stores of power and healing spells he'd laid into the steel over centuries of meditation. It would take him decades to replace the power he was using, but this was the reason he'd placed such safeguards in the weapon. Should he fall with his sword in reach, it could give him a last burst of strength to defeat a foe, escape into the ground, or in this case, simply walk under his own power.

Aiden watched him closely, monitoring him mentally as Jas quite literally charged himself like a battery with the sword. No wonder the thing had made Aiden's fingers tingle when he'd held it. He'd heard about wizards placing power in objects, but it usually required blood and tremendous power. It was not an art the Carpathians practiced. There was much unknown about this stranger, and he was anxious to escape the Morrison facility and return home.

Jas let out a sigh and seemed to breathe easier. "I am ready. Let us get out of here."

Maddie turned to look at Melanie. "You coming?" she asked.

The poor scientist was pressed against the wall, caught between wonder and horror after witnessing a dead man come back to life.

"Um...yeah...I guess..." she replied unsteadily.

Suddenly the intercom at the far side of the room crackled.

"Hello?...Anyone down there?"

"Crap..." Maddie and Melanie said in unison.

Melanie sprinted to the other side of the room and punched the reply button. "Just me, Dr. Rochell, checking on the Vlad Doe," she called into the little white box.

"Rochelle, you idiot," snapped the voice at the other end. "It's after sunset!"

"He's dead as a doornail," Melanie assured even as she looked at Jas, Maddie under one shoulder, and Aiden under the other. Jas managed to smile at her blatant lie.

"They can look dead, and then—bam!—they have their teeth in your neck."

"He's still bolted to the bed, and all the machines confirm no heart beat, no brainwaves, nothing! I was getting tissue samples post transfusion," Melanie clarified. "I'll be up right away."

"Good, because Mr. Big is coming."

"Mr. Big? _The_ Mr. Big?"

"He'll be here in an hour to see Vlad."

"Then I'll be out of his way," Melanie clicked off the intercom and turned to the three Carpathians. "We need to get out now."

"Is there a back door?" Maddie demanded.

"Now do you think I'd join a secret society without any back doors?" Melanie teased. Then she looked at Judge and Garth standing in the back of the room. "What do we do with the zombies?"

"Leave them," Aiden said. "They are no longer our concern."

Melanie nodded. She opened the door from the exam room and they all helped Jas into the elevator. The little box rose three floors and then they turned down one dark, narrow corridor after another. All three Carpathians projected fearful menace into the halls, making sure no one would discover their escape. Melanie had to feel her way down the walls, but the others could see very well in the dim light. Finally, they came to a ladder leading up above ground.

Melanie lead the way and popped open the trap door. She emerged in the desert in the middle of the night, far from the entrance. Maddie and Jas floated up behind her, Aiden levitating out last. Without waiting to plan their next move, Aiden swept Melanie into his arms and flew over Vegas in the direction of Maddie's apartment. Jas and Maddie streaked towards the mountains, arms wrapped around each other, lending strength to one another.

_You should have waited for me,_ Jas thought to her.

Maddie waited to probe him empathicly before answering. He was hurt that he hadn't been there when she was going through the conversion, ashamed that his absence had darkened her soul. He was a little angry that she had placed herself in so much danger, but proud and grateful that she had come for him.

_I couldn't,_ she replied honestly. _I would have died of grief and starvation, and you would have found me dead in my bathtub. Then it would have been you to loose colors again, and sing Halloween Town to the mortals as you drained them dry._

She felt his reluctant agreement. _Never again,_ he vowed, _will I leave you like that._

_I doubt I'm ever going to need to be converted again,_ she teased.

_But if you are hurt, or when you are with child—_

_When? Not if?_ she cut him off, perturbed. _Kids are a big commitment, and I'm not mommy-material._

_I have just had the scare of my life,_ he informed her smugly,_ and I will have to make love to you for at least a decade before I will be able to let you out of my sight. Do you think in all that time we would not conceive?_

_When you put it like that,_ she rolled her eyes. _But not tonight. You have a huge hole in your chest, and I'm still aching from my conversion. _Then she kissed him as they descended into the red stone tunnels and caves. His arms tightened around her as he kissed back. The finally settled in a cave and the earth opened to welcome them. Arms and legs tangled together, they reluctantly shutdown their lungs and hearts as the healing soil poured over them.

Miles away in Las Vegas, Aiden gently deposited Melanie on Maddie's patio. With a wave of his hand, the lock snapped open and the door slid to one side. Melanie tucked a brown lock of hair behind her ear and glanced at her golden rescuer.

"I hope I didn't hurt your neck or anything with my deathgrip," she said. "I'm not very good with heights."

"You were no bother," he replied with a small, courtly bow.

"So do I get a kiss goodnight?" she asked boldly and hopefully.

"I already have a life mate," he said gently.

"Oh," Melanie ducked her head to hide her embarrassment. "Sorry."

"You might meet her tomorrow evening," he said, a wry smile on his face. "She is most upset with me over this whole fiasco, and has informed me that she will be here come hell or high water to make sure I do not get myself in any more trouble."

"Jealous much?" she asked, Aiden's good nature rubbing off on her.

"She is not nearly as jealous as I was when I courted her," he chuckled. "I terrorized several suitors before she realized I was the only one for her."

"Hansom, charming, and arrogant enough to make a cat sick. She certainly got a sweet deal with you," she retorted. "On second thought, she can keep you."

Aiden smiled, and then instructed Melanie, "Do not answer the door, turn on lights, pick up the phone, play music, watch TV or do anything to hint at your presence here."

"I think I'm just going to sleep," she confessed. "It's been an overwhelming night."

"Then good evening, Miss Rochell," Aiden nodded and gently mentally pushed her inside. When the door closed and the drapes covered the window, he launched into the night. Melanie went to the fridge and grabbed some leftover noodles from the Ming Palace, which she knew made vegetarian chow mien. After nuking and scarfing it down, she dropped onto the sofa, exhausted by the crazy day's events, and pulled the fuzzy red throw from the back of the couch over her feet.. Three cats eyed her suspiciously before deciding she was harmless and curling up on top of her.

* * *

_Six A M, Christmas morning...no shadows, no reflections here..._

The familiar words in an even more familiar, memorizing voice of her lifemate filtered into her thoughts. Maddie became aware of soft sheets and cushions under her. She was completely naked, but she could not feel the smallest grain of sand or speck of dirt anywhere on her body. This second rising was very different from waking on her first day in the earth.

_Lying cheek to cheek in your cold embrace..._

She smiled as she rolled over and opened her eyes. Jas had placed aromatic candles all over the cave. He lay beside her, the soft light playing over the soft curves of his naked muscles. Her hungry eyes took him in with relish, but she almost cried out in distress when she saw the still angry pink scar on his chest, right over his heart. She placed her hand over it, tears filling her eyes. It was slightly feverish to the touch.

_If I was your vampire...Certain as the moon..._

Jas slid his hand under hers and brought it to his lips. He kissed each finger, and then sucked and nibbled on the pads of her fingertips. His attention made her whole body flush with pleasure and lust. He continued to sing into her mind, pouring out his love mingled with a sense of humor and thankfulness for life.

_Instead of killing time...We'll have each other until the sun._

He rolled on top of her and kissed her deeply, his tongue exploring her mouth with relish. He leaned on one elbow while his other hand caressed her curves. She kissed back, wrapping her arms around his torso so that she could trail her fingernails down his muscular back.

_If I was your vampire...Death waits for no one._

His lips left hers and he trailed kisses down her jaw and neck, over her collar bone, down to her breasts. He nipped at her ribs and nibbled down her stomach. Then he moved back up her body until his blue eyes looked deep into her emerald eyes. His hands cupped her face.

_Hold my hands across your face...Because I think our time has come._

Maddie held her breath as Jas slowly adjusted himself to sit between her legs. Every inch of her burned for him. She needed, but was too afraid to make any sound and dispel this dream. The hardened evidence of his desire lay at the entrance of her hot sheath. Slowly, he eased forward, spearing her with such erotic slowness.

She gasped and clutched at him. He bent his head to kiss her earlobe, biting it gently. He withdrew and pushed forward again, making love with agonizing laziness. His breathing heavy as he fought to keep control, he licked his way down her neck again and pierced her neck.

Maddie let out a hoarse moan as pleasure arched through her like blue lightening. Her whole body felt like a plasma ball with bolts of sheer delectation radiating out of her to arch to his body wherever they touched.

Just a taste, he told himself as he lapped at her spicy blood. Her taste was so addictive it took his last ounce of self control to seal the wounds. Her mouth hungrily latched onto his shoulder, and it was his turn to cry out as her teeth sank into his muscle. As she drank his essence, he plunged deeper into her, his hips speeding up the rhythm he'd tried so hard to maintain.

Maddie closed the holes with a dramatic lick and wrapped her legs around his waist, encouraging his urgent pace. Abandoning all efforts to control his lust, he buried himself over and over in her tight cavern. She arched into him, the pleasure building, hanging onto sanity by her fingernails. It seemed to go on and on, but she had no concept of time. Only pleasure. Finally she convulsed in orgasm, her scream rebounding off the walls of the cavern. Jas thrust once, twice more before he joined her in ecstasy, spilling his seed deep inside her. They shook with the aftershocks of their lovemaking.

He pushed himself to the side so he could still hold her, but wouldn't crush her. He nuzzled the hollow between shoulder and neck, enjoying her scent. Maddie gasped, trying to regain her breath as she fairly pulsed with small ripples of pleasure rolling up and down her body.

"And we haven't even...started the kinky stuff...yet," Maddie panted after a long moment. "I don't think we'll survive it."

"Only one way to find out," Jas muttered seductively in her ear.

"Don't you dare...even think it," she admonished. "We have to...go grab some fast food...and make sure Melanie hasn't killed my cats."

"Are you sure?" Jas asked, turning his normally fierce blue eyes to puppy mode, begging her to take her chances in the cave.

"Absolutely!" she cried. "I'm hungry!"

"Then I can do no other than provide for you," he replied and kissed her again.


	13. Chapter 13

Melanie just finished the opened quart of cookie dough ice cream just as the patio door slid open. Maddie and Jas walked in holding hands, looking alive and glowing. Behind them came Aiden and his blond haired, blue eyed, supermodel of a wife.

_No wonder I didn't have a chance_, Melanie thought to herself. Aiden and Alex caught the thought and smiled at each other, Alex for once more smug than Aiden.

"Good evening," Maddie said in a dramatic voice, then laughed and leaned into Jas.

"Hi, I'm Alex," the blond introduced herself to Melanie, offering her hand in friendship.

"Dr. Melanie Rochell," the brunette replied briskly, quickly shaking and dropping the perfectly manicured hand. "It's good to see you all...alive and everything."

"Thanks to your help," Maddie said. "Anyway, we should talk about what's happening next."

"The Morrison facility has been destroyed," Aiden said. "I went assess any new developments and discovered that the entire mountain had been leveled with C4. Apparently they are getting paranoid about what we may find out from their own research."

"That means that Melanie is probably on their international hit-list," Alex offered, her eyes conveying concern and regret. "We've seen them follow people across continents. They don't have a statute of limitations on treachery, so even if you disappear for twenty years, they'll still be looking for you."

"Great," Melanie muttered and flopped back on the couch. "Eight years of medical school down the drain."

"Not necessarily," Aiden protested. "You mentioned you were a geneticist, and it just so happens that a friend needs your expertise in his laboratory. It is a protected position and well payed."

Melanie visibly perked at this offer. "Where is it?"

"The Carpathian Mountains in Romania," he told her.

Jas sent a suspicious look at Aiden, which the golden hunter very carefully ignored.

"Talk about your witness protection," Melanie joked. "I suppose I don't have any other options. And it's not as if I'm leaving much behind. I'll take it."

"By chance," Jas asked casually, "Who would own this laboratory?"

Even though Aiden's face was smooth and passive, wicked mirth twinkled in his amber eyes. "Mikhail Dubrinsky, of course."

"Of course," Jas returned. Maddie felt him curse in her mind and she smiled. It didn't matter if he was distressed, he was right beside her, and she was so thankful for him.

"I have no idea who that is but he sounds familiar in a deja-vu sort of way," Melanie mused.

"Well, you'll get to meet him," Alex assured her. "In fact, Jas can make the introductions."

"You know Mikhail?" Maddie asked, knowing full well that he did.

"He was very young, last I saw him. I doubt he remembers me," Jas replied a little sullenly.

"Regardless," Aiden insisted, "It is your duty to escort Dr. Rochell to safety and to present your lifemate to prince of our people."

"Prince?" Melanie repeated, paling slightly. "Prince of Romania? Am I going to be working for royalty? Is that what you meant by a protected job?"

"Could I simply send a formal letter instead?" Jas pleaded. Maddie laughed at his pained expression.

"Why don't you want me to meet him?" she demanded. "He sounds interesting—laboratories in Romania is _so_ Dr. Frankenstein."

"Frankenstein is German, honeysweet," Jas corrected her with a squeeze of her hand.

"Still, my question stands," she retorted with a grin.

"I told you before, I am a loner. I do not do well with authority," he told her softly.

"All the more reason for you to meet him. I believe many of the ancients have gathered again. Lucian, and Gabriel, the Von Shrieder and the De La Cruz brothers have surfaced," Aiden informed him, obviously amused at the ancient's discomfort. Then his voice became dead serious. "Also, I'm sure Gregori would be interested in your methods of storing power in your sword."

Again Maddie heard Jas cursing in her mind, but he nodded solemnly to Aiden. It was Melanie who brought the conversation back to the practical.

"How do we get to the Carpathian Mountains?" she asked. "I don't have a passport, and even if I tried to get one I'm sure it'd be like sending up flares to the Morrison society. And what should I wear to meet royalty?"

Maddie and Alex looked at each other and smiled. "I'm sure we'll think of something," Maddie replied, then added, "And we can't forget my cats. I'm not leaving them behind."

Aiden nodded. "I will arrange for an aircraft."

Maddie smiled, then turned to Alex. "Could I speak with you in the kitchen?" she asked formally. Alex nodded and followed her out of the room. Before she could ask what the reason for privacy was, Maddie blurted out, "I know you're mad at Aiden for converting me. And I know you're not happy with me either. He probably should have put me to sleep until he could recover Jas, but please understand I was desperate. I thought I'd lost my lifemate, and in my grief I didn't consider all the ramifications of using another male to convert me. Please, I offer my blood and an open mind so you can see and understand, and so we might have a bond as sisters." She extended her wrist hopefully.

Alex was taken aback by her confession and peace offering. She was indeed miffed with both of them for the risks they'd taken, but she'd been in Aiden's mind as he'd agonized over the decision, had felt Maddie's overwhelming despair. As annoyed as she was, she couldn't wish to extend that agony—perhaps indefinitely. She nodded and accepted Maddie's wrist. Gently, she bit into the vein and drank just enough for an exchange. When she'd closed the wound, she offered her own wrist to Maddie. "Sisters," she said softly.

Maddie likewise drank and closed the wound. Then Alex hugged her, and instead of investigating her mind for any adulterous thoughts, she swamped Maddie with love, acceptance, and forgiveness. Maddie hugged her back and wept for joy. It was one thing to have a man to love her, and her life would be complete without anyone else, but to have a sister filled her heart with such happiness that she couldn't contain it. Without knowing it, both women were glowing, the internal light of their hearts shining though their skin and warming the white walls of the kitchen like only love can.

"Thank you," Maddie whispered.

"That's what sisters are for," Alex replied with a squeeze.

"Are you going to come with us to the Carpathian mountains?" Maddie asked as they finally broke apart. She quickly wiped the tears from her eyes.

"Unfortunately no," Alex replied with an apologetic smile. "Aiden needs to stay in San Francisco. He's kind of the vampire hunter poster boy for North America."

Maddie laughed. "Does he come out with a calendar every decade?"

"No, but that's a great idea!" Alex exclaimed. "Can you imagine the costumes?"

"Like red suspenders and short-shots?"

"Or a leopard print loin-cloth?"

"Or a camo-thong?"

"Or chocolate sauce and a cherry?"

Both girls dissolved into hysterical laughter. Outside the kitchen, the men looked worriedly at one another.

"Do you hear what they are plotting?" Jas asked, his face concerned but his eyes sparkling with mirth.

"I think you had best get Maddie off this continent as quickly as possible," Aiden growled. "She is obviously a bad influence."

"I was going to say the same thing, except about Alex. I do not know much about women," Jas admitted, "but I suspect they all encourage one another in...inappropriate activities."

"Then it's settled, you should leave tonight," Aiden replied decisively.

"Um, what about me?" Melanie asked, slightly mystified about the whole conversation.

"Of course you will accompany them," Aiden assured her.

"But shouldn't I get some belongings—you know, undergarments, toothbrush, things like that—before I leave?"

"Is there anything at your home you cannot live without?" Jas asked.

"No, not really," she admitted hesitantly.

"Then any wardrobe requirements will be taken care of in Romania," Jas announced. "It is the least I can do for your assistance."

"And you can help me cage my cats," Maddie interjected as she and Alex came from the kitchen, arm in arm. "I'm not leaving without them."

"They're adorable," Melanie agreed.

"They're holy terrors," Maddie corrected her with a smile. "Why do you think I named them after religious icons?"

She went over to the closet and pulled out three cat carriers and a small bag of treats. With a shake of the bag, three furry blurs rushed into the room. The Siamese and tabby sat patiently waiting for a reward, but the cream cat caught sight of the carriers and spun around to dive under the sofa.

"Grab Mohamed!" she cried, pointing at the cream cat.

Melanie reached down, but Mohamed sprang away and jumped onto the table. From there he leaped to the back of the couch, only to drop down to the floor and scramble into the bedroom before anyone could touch him.

"Why did you name him Mohamed?" Melanie asked. "He's more like a Houdini!"

"The boxer," Maddie replied.

"He certainly floated like a butterfly," Alex laughed.

"Insolent feline," Jas muttered. To everyone's surprise, Mohamed walked though the bedroom door and into one of the open carriers. The door glided closed and latched behind him. As soon as the cat heard the click of the door, he turned into a raging clawed tornado.

"And if you get too close, you'll be stung," Maddie commented wryly. Then she glared at Jas. "I'm not sure I approve of using mind control on my cat."

"It is a cat," Jas snorted. "Hardly a suitable companion."

"I take it you are a dog person?" Maddie demanded icily.

Jas sensed the pending danger and reached out to envelope Maddie in an embrace. She dodged his arm and glared at his hand as if it was a dead weasel.

"Honeysweet," he said softly, pleadingly.

"Don't _honeysweet_ me," she snapped. "If you can't love my cats, then you can't love me."

Jas tried to reach out with his mind, but came up against solid barriers keeping him out of her mind. He sighed. She left him no alternatives. He dropped to one knee and held his clasped hands up imploringly.

"I am a man, and thus prone to mistakes," he said. "Please forgive my blunder. I have been denied feline companionship as long as I have been denied female companionship. After knowing the joys of one, I am willing to learn the joys of the other."

Maddie tried to keep a straight face, but dissolved into giggles. The other girls join her, laughing at his humble appology.

"Why can't you say your sorry on your knees?" Alex demanded of Aiden.

The only one not laughing, Aiden glared at Jas. "You are leaving now."


	14. Chapter 14

The small cargo plane flew around the Pacific rim and crossed Asia Minor without incident. They landed in Romania a few hours after nightfall. A large black SUV was waiting for them. Behind the wheel, Vikirnoff Von Shrieder sat stoically while Natalya waved wildly out the window at the three travelers.

"Hi!" Maddie called, trotting as best as possible with a cat carrier in each hand and in an ankle length skirt. "You must be our welcoming party!"

"Madalyn!" Natalya jumped out of the car to help Maddie with one of her cats. "I'm Natalya. Aiden said to watch for the red head with the killer cats. I love your outfit!" Natalya admired Maddie's lacy skirt and red bodice with silk tasseled cord around her waist. Jas had crafted her something that suited her Gothic tastes and incorporated a hint of his eastern history in the kimono-like square sleeves. Jas himself wore a silk suit. Melanie had insisted on more professional dress than formal, and wore a snappy golden linen suit.

"Who is this skinny fellow?" She asked, crouching in front of a carrier peering in at the skinny tabby.

"Gandhi," Maddie replied. "He never has much of an appetite, and can barely manage to stay above 5 pounds. His vet can't figure it out, but he's pretty mellow."

"And this one?" She pointed at the carrier in Maddie's hand.

"Mohamed. I have to carry him because Jas used some of his male charm to get him in the cage," Maddie indicated exactly what kind of charm by wiggling her fingers mysteriously at her temple, "and now the poor kitten doesn't want to get near him."

"He is not a _poor _anything," Jas growled. "He is a full grown lion who thinks he has exclusive rights over my lifemate's sleeping quarters." Natalya laughed, recognizing the same stubborn, macho streak that was in her lifemate.

"He does have seniority," Maddie reminded him with a wink. Then she introduced him formally, "My lifemate, Jas Trovatelli."

Vikirnoff elegantly got out of the car and greeted Jas by clasping forearms. They nodded at one another, but did not say anything.

Maddie reached behind her and pulled Melanie and her cat carrier into the spotlight. "And finally, this is Dr. Melanie Rochell, acting chauffeur for Buddha."

"Good of you to come," Natalya said and warmly hugged the bashful doctor. "Well, let's get going. The prince is very anxious to meet you three."

They gently deposited the three cats in the back of the SUV and climbed into the bench seat, Melanie first, Maddie in the middle, and Jas last. Jas held his sword protectively at his side.

"What is that thing anyway?" Natalya asked, pointing at the long shape wrapped in black velvet.

"My weapon," Jas said simply.

"Duh," Natalya retorted. "What kind?"

Jas looked at Maddie beseechingly. Maddie just smiled in an _I-told-you-so_ kind of way. Finally, he replied, "It is a katana, from Ancient Japan."

"No kidding! I love martial arts movies," Natalya exclaimed. "Can you do kung-fu?"

"That would be your greatest concern when questioning a stranger about his weaponry," Vikirnoff commented crisply from the drivers seat. Natalya rolled her eyes.

"Kung-fu is not so much a martial art as a specialty. But to satisfy your curiosity, I am proficient in jujutsu—or hand to hand combat—and kenjutsu—or sword play," Jas replied evenly, without sounding like boasting. He could have been discussing the color of his socks.

"That is so cool! Could you teach me jujutsu?" Natalya demanded. Vikirnoff's eyes flashed in the rear view mirror, and Jas read the possessiveness in the other male's subtle body language, and thought of a diplomatic way to assuage the eager woman without offending her lifemate.

"It would be more suitable to teach you naginatajutsu, as that was the fighting style associated with female samurai," he replied smoothly. "It is a derivation of pole-arms fighting, suitable for keeping attackers at a respectable distance when engaging them while wearing a skirt."

"What, are you saying I'm not good enough for jujutsu because I'm a woman?" Natalya demanded dangerously.

Maddie watched the growing argument with her tongue firmly between her teeth to keep from laughing. She knew Jas was trying to be considerate of Vikirnoff's feelings, but that didn't make the scene any less amusing.

"I am simply saying it is more appropriate for a woman to learn feminine skills before she attempts those of the masculine domination," he replied with a casual shrug.

"_Attempts?_" Natalya almost shrieked in semi-mock rage. "You don't think I could do it?"

Maddie couldn't hold her laughter in any longer. It bubbled out of her until her eyes filled with tears of mirth. "You have to forgive him," she gasped an apology. "His experience with women is rather narrow--"

"Don't you dare," he snapped.

Maddie caught the warning in his mind, and decided to wait before exposing that particular "virgin sacrifices" tidbit. She just laughed, and her infectious humor caught on and Natalya started laughing too.

"I guess every Carpathian male is more than a bit in the dark when it comes to the modern woman," Natalya admitted as she cast a sultry look at her lifemate.

The car ride was smooth and uneventful. The last village they passed through was quiet and rustic. Then they were in the wilds of the Carpathian mountains, the gravel road barely wide enough for the SUV. Finally Vikirnoff turned into a driveway and as the trees parted, the passengers caught their first glimpse of the Dubrinksy manor.

"We're here," chirped Natalya unnecessarily.

_Are you excited about meeting the prince?_ Maddie asked Jas privately.

_Truthfully, kitling, I am terrified, _Jas replied, and Maddie felt his fear weighing heavily on his heart. Fear of rejection, condemnation, even exile all swam in his mind as they climbed out of the SUV.

_The prince would not have requested our presence if he did not intend to welcome us,_ Maddie tried to reassure him.

_He didn't invite us. He commanded us here because he does not know who I am,_Jas replied sharply. _I am a wild-card. An unknown factor in his battle against many fronts. This is what Sun Tzu would call Mortal Law; Mikhail's people need to be in total accordance with him at all times. Those who are not... _His train of thought trailed off with a curious clenching of his gut. He watched Vikirnoff and Natalya lead Melanie inside the rustic manor. They acted as if this was their second home, but the steep roves reminded Jas of teeth reaching up into the night sky. His grip on his sword was so tight that the bamboo scabbard fairly creaked in protest.

Maddie hooked her arm around his and looked up into his dark blue eyes that resembled chips of slate in his anxiety. _You are a man of impeccable honor. You have never hurt an innocent and have worked hard to destroy the vampire in forgotten lands. So what if you didn't call home on holidays? He will not—cannot—find fault with you_, she insisted. Then, tracing an erotic swirling pattern on his shoulder with one black fingernail, she added,_ We could run away, right now. Melanie is safe with them, and if you don't want to face Mikhail ever again, you know I'd be right by your side. We could live on some little islands in the south Pacific. I hear some gods down there need a few messengers._

Jas looked down at his lifemate and felt humbled by her utter devotion to him. Here he was, a renegade afraid to even meet the man who was supposed to command his allegiance, and not only was his woman willing to back him up, but she'd follow him to the ends of the earth and wouldn't think any less of him if his courage failed him now. He swept her into an embrace and kissed her hotly, almost desperately.

_I want you,_ he whispered seductively into her mind.

_If we ran away, you could have me right now,_ Maddie whispered back, tempting him with erotic images in her mind.

"You two coming or what?" Natalya called out.

Jas groaned. _We had best face this together, my love, _he decided as they broke apart. Maddie smiled and accompanied him up the stairs and into the house. A woman met them almost at the door. She had long wavy black hair and deep blue eyes the hue of forget-me-nots.

"I'm Raven," she said warmly. "Welcome to our home. Please enter."

Inside, the décor was an interesting mix of old world antiques and modern convince. It felt very natural and comforting, the room lending itself to the natural flow of conversation and community.

"Mikhail is in the library, just through there," Raven instructed, pointing down a hallway. "I would join you, but Melanie needs some time away from the men. She's a bit overwhelmed. Poor thing is all nerves."

Maddie flashed Raven a grateful smile and she and Jas walked down the hallway. In the library, Mikhail stood by the fireplace. A tall, broad shouldered man with dangerous, silver eyes stood beside him. Those eyes flickered over Maddie in a way that gave her goose bumps before they pinned Jas. She felt his ripple of unease before striding forwards towards the prince.

Maddie glanced at the prince. His eyes were warm, his face as amiable as it was handsome. He dressed simply in a white silk shirt and black suit pants. He looked like an ex-model who'd just gotten home from his executive office.

Jas stopped in front of the men and before either of them could say anything, he dropped to one knee. Maddie, always a shadow in his mind now, sank gracefully to the floor at the same time. She didn't know if it was appropriate in such casual circumstances, but she refused to embarrass her lifemate at such an important meeting. They both bowed their heads and Jas offered up his sword to the prince.

"My prince," he breathed. "I offer my blade, my heart, my blood to you."

Maddie empathically felt Mikhail's surprise, although it was slight. She could feel nothing from the other man. He was like a statue.

"Rise, brother," Mikhail commanded, a small smile in his voice. "We do not stand for such formality here."

"I am not worthy to be called your brother," Jas replied huskily. "I have been an outcast most of my life."

Mikhail reached down and gripped his wrist. Jas looked up, started by the contact. "You are an outcast no more," Mikhail replied, his voice deep, clear, as if he was proclaiming it.

Jas stood, and he and Mikhail clasped forearms in the way of warriors. Maddie rose a heartbeat after him, but demurely kept her eyes downcast. This was a meeting of men, she knew, and she would be introduced in due time.

"You come to us when we need most," Mikhail was saying. "Other ancients have heeded the call and made themselves known long before now, yet here you are, another surprise for us. Where have you been all these years?"

"Tending forgotten lands, my prince," Jas said with a respectful bow. Maddie suddenly noticed that his bow was not that of a courtier, but that of a warrior samurai. He was very different from these western men in his manor, and while he obviously remembered the way things were done in this post-romantic society, he was much more comfortable with the formal structure of the east.

"Please, call me Mikhail," he insisted. "And this is Gregori Daratrasanoff, my right hand."

Jas turned and bowed to the silver eyed man before accepting his forearm in a gesture of friendship. Then he gently pulled Maddie into the shelter of his broad shoulder. "This is my lifemate, Madalyn Trovatelli, formerly a human psychic."

"We have heard interesting things about you, Madalyn," Gregori said. His voice was deep and memorizing, but somehow Maddie wasn't enthralled. She caught her first flicker of disapproval from him.

Keeping her mental barriers in place, she carefully and softly asked, "What sort of things?"

"That it was not your lifemate who converted you, but Aiden Savage." His answer was equally soft, but she caught the tail end of menace, as if he didn't trust her.

"I see no reason to deny it," she replied, the hairs on the back of her neck prickling with ire.

"We have also heard that for a short while, you bore the burden of darkness," Gregori continued, more distrust emanating from him. "How could this happen, yet you still anchor an ancient in the light?"

Jas felt Gregori's suspicions through Maddie, and protectively tried to shield her with his body. Maddie placed a calming hand on his chest and stepped forward to meet Gregori's silver gaze with her emerald one.

"The best answer I have for you, Dark One, is that for a time I was like a laser, a super-focused beam of light which often is of a wavelength invisible to most eyes. A thousand lasers could pierce a dark room and never give away their presence through their own light. Yet they can cut and burn through the toughest alloy and hardest mineral," she said calmly and clearly. This was not a time to get defensive or irrational. If this man could not accept her, it made no difference to her. She would not be berated for her choices. She was well aware of her abilities, and even though she could feel the power radiating off him in tangible waves, she was not about to be intimidated. "If you are accusing our union of something impure—something vampire—because I lost my lifemate and took it upon myself to get him back, then you may as well say it clearly so the _prince_ can make a decision."

Surprise, strong and clear flickered in those silver eyes, followed quickly by respect and even a little humor.

"Well met, sister," he said, and bowed his head slightly. He looked back at Jas and gave him a small, pitting smile. "I thought perhaps you were the first of our males to find a soft spoken mate, but it appears she is as sharp-tongued as the rest of the women here. You both will fit in nicely."

Maddie arched an eyebrow, letting him know that she was not amused with his mind games. Mikhail smiled openly and warmly, and clapped Jas on the back. Jas let out a slow breath, relief flooding his body. Maddie purred in his mind, letting him know how proud of him she was.

"Welcome home," Mikhail said simply.

"There is still the matter of this interesting sword," Gregori interjected, eying the katanta sheathed in black-stained bamboo. "I can feel power bound in it, but I do not know how it was placed there. In all my years of study, I have not learned such a thing. I thought that art was lost to us."

Jas unsheathed the sword and offered it hilt first to the prince for inspection. "It was something I developed alongside the ancient sword masters of Japan. It took blood, folded a thousand times into the steel. In the centuries before my lifemate, this sword was my focus in meditation. In times of peace, I stored power into the blade. In times of war, I could draw on that power when I needed it. This sword has helped me defeat many vampires, and it saved my life nearly as many times. The discipline it took to master wielding it reinforced my purpose, my honor, and helped me endure until I found Madalyn." He hugged her close, a brief motion, but at the same time he poured love and adoration into her.

Mikhail held it for a moment before returning it. It was indeed powerful. "You said you forged this? You trained with the ancient masters?"

"Yes."

Mikhail looked at Gregori, and they were obviously communicating silently. Then Mikhail said, "I will have to consult with our two eldest, Gabriel and Lucien. I vaguely remember a particular line of warrior-artisans who could mold and balance the ores of the earth unlike any other. I believe that was the Silverwind line, long lost to us. Perhaps you are of that line."

"Perhaps," Jas replied. "Although I do not look forward to meeting the dark twins again, it may be worth it if they can recall anything of my heritage. Long have I thought myself nothing more than a n unwanted foundling."

"How do you know Gabriel and Lucien?" Gregori asked, interest sparkling in his eyes.

Jas looked down in embarrassment. "They...um, they rescued me from the vaults of the Vatican."

Gregori and Mikhail looked at each other, surprised. Mikhail smiled and commented, "Seems as if you had a colorful past."

"You haven't told them the good part yet," Maddie whispered loud enough for everyone to hear.

"Please, kitling, do not," Jas begged.

"Truly, what is this _best part_?" Gregori asked softly. "I am interested to hear it."

"Why not?" Maddie demanded, delighting in his discomfort now that his more serious fears had been laid to rest. "You thrived in the scarcely populated pacific isles. That in and of itself is a remarkable accomplishment."

"Yes, how did you manage that?" Gregori almost purred, his mouth curled in cruel humor.

Jas covered his eyes, afraid to look at his prince.

"Two words," Maddie informed them. "Sacrificial. Virgins."

Jas nearly melted with embarrassment as Mikhail's and Gregori's surprised glares bore into his skull. It felt like they were looming over him, ready to rend him to pieces. But then Maddie was standing there, in between him and certain doom, laughing at them all. The two dark Carpathians looked at the woman with confusion.

"This is not a laughing matter," Mikhail reprimanded her softly. "If he has dishonored himself--"

"I did not," Jas replied, equally as soft. Two could play Maddie's game. "My lifemate likes to tease me about the naive women in my life because I found her on a pole at a gentleman's club."

Maddie bit her lips closed to keep from snickering as Mikhale and Gregori exchanged startled glances.

"Obviously this tale is more than what it might appear on the surface. Would you grant me the entire story from the beginning?" the prince asked with a slight bow of apology.


	15. Chapter 15

"And she was walking down the halls singing This is Halloween, of all things," Melanie told Raven. "She had red flames all around her, and looked _possessed!_"

"That's horrible," Raven murmured sympathetically.

"This whole thing has been a roller-coaster ride," Melanie confessed. "And I'm not even sure what's really going on. All I know is there are a lot of people exchanging bodily fluids and other people want them dead for it." She held her head in her hands.

"You mean no one has explained the situation to you?" Raven cried, appalled. She scanned Melanie's mind, but found only smooth tranquility and absolutely no specific images or thoughts.

"Not in so many words. I'm going crazy!" Melanie replied.

"Mel," Raven said as she reached out for the doctor's hand. "Do you know what Carpathians are?"

"People who live in these mountains?" Melanie guessed.

"My dear, I apologize in advance for how shocking any of this may be, but you are among a race of immortals," Raven told her. She believed in honesty, and she hoped that Melanie only needed a few facts to put together the whole truth. Besides that, since she couldn't read her thoughts, reading her expressions would be the best way to know what was going on in the doctor's mind."This might be a strange question, but do you know if you have any...psychic abilities?"

"What do you mean? Like read minds?" Melanie asked, perplexed.

"Anything. Some women I know talk to animals. One could start fires. Another was telekinetic. Falcon's lifemate had powerful mental defenses that kept an ancient vampire from seizing control of her mind," Raven explained.

"Why does it matter?" Melanie demanded, trying not to get defensive.

"Let me try to rephrase this. I was a psychic who could read minds, and early in my life I was able to trail serial killers and bring them to justice. I have grown more skilled over the years, but if I try to read your mind, it's like looking into a smoky mirror," Raven offered. "I may be able to probe further, but that would be rude without your permission."

"I'll say it's rude!" Melanie exclaimed. "I don't want anyone reading my mind."

"But do you see what I'm trying to get at?" Raven pressed. "You may be like Falcon's lifemate Sara, with tremendous natural shields. I was just curious if you had any other abilities."

Melanie regarded her suspiciously. "So...are you all vampires or something?"

"No," Raven assured her firmly. "We survive on blood, but we never take a life in the act of feeding."

"And somehow psychic women are important to you?" Melanie ventured.

Raven paused, pursing her lips as she debated how to continue the explanation. "All women are important too us. We place great value on life," she finally said. "Some psychic women are compatible with our men, and their marriages are very successful."

"So is it only psychic women who are compatible?" Melanie persisted, her nervousness apparent.

"No," Raven quickly comforted her. "Not at all. We have many marriages between our people."

"Then why do you want to know if I'm psychic?" she demanded.

Raven reached out to Mikhail, found him laughing with Gregori and Jas, and took comfort that at least one meeting was going right. To Melanie, she said, "Jas, Maddie, Aiden and Alex all should have sensed your distress and confusion, and taken the time to explain what was going on. I know a lot of frightening things happened rather quickly, and you've held up very courageously under extreme circumstances. But the only excuse I can think of for their absolute lack of care for your emotional state is that they could not sense what you were really feeling."

"Because that makes so much sense," Melanie replied sarcastically. "They can't tell what I'm feeling so they just ignore me."

Raven could tell by her tone and facial features that Melanie was getting very frazzled. She took both of Melanie's hands and looked deep into her dark brown eyes.

"Know this, beyond all doubt," she commanded softly, but kept compulsion out of her voice. "You are safe here, among friends. Through circumstances have thrust you into uncertain territory, and you will be asked to accept a lot of impossible facts, we will always value you as a gift and a treasure and a sister. No matter what happens."

Melanie saw the truth in Raven's eyes. She threw her arms around Raven's neck and burst into tears. "I'm sorry," she gasped between sobs. "Maddie and Jas are so happy—and after everything she went through to get him back—and escaping from the foundation—and—and—everything! I—I didn't want to—be a nuisance."

"You'll never be a nuisance," Raven crooned. She stroked her hair soothingly as she held the crying woman.

"I...I can fade into the background...or stand out," Melanie confessed after a while, leaning back and whiping the tears from her eyes. "In school, the teachers never called on me unless I wanted them to. Same thing happened with guys in bars and at job interviews. I don't know if that's really a _psychic_ ability, but it's something different I do. Sometimes, when I'm scared...it kinda happens on its own. So...I guess what I'm trying to say is that maybe it's not everyone else's fault that they ignored me. Maybe I just kinda disappeared on my own."

"Apparently, you are very talented," Raven replied with a smile. "Now, if you don't mind, there are some people who would like to meet you, including my daughter."

"Okay," replied Melanie as she scrubbed at her face.

Without Raven calling them, two beautiful women gracefully walked into the kitchen. Both had vibrant blue eyes. One had long flowing hair like Raven, and the other had short thick brown hair. Raven introduced them, "This is my daughter Savanna, lifemate to Gregori, the Prince's right hand, and this is Sara, lifemate to Falcon, whom I was telling you about. Sara and Falcon also care for 7 psychic human children she rescued from Romanian sewers, but I thought it best not to overwhelm you with that mob so soon."

"So are you the doctor who's going to start working with Gary Jensen?" Savanna asked. "He's thrilled to get another human on his team. He never says anything, but I think he gets a little lonely with all these tall, dark, and macho men strutting around."

Melanie laughed at Savanna's friendly ribbing.

"I think he's more excited about having someone with maternal instincts to help him watch my children during the day," Sara replied. "They'll run anyone ragged—especially when they get into a talent war."

"What's a talent war?" Melanie asked, already suspecting.

"Lets just say you've never seen a food fight until you've seen two telekinetic geniuses go at it," Sara replied, chuckling.

Raven perked an ear. "Someone's at the door," she said. "You three get to know one another, I'll be right back."

In the library, Maddie suddenly went ridged. A nightmare struck, fast and furious like always. Melanie was pointing a gun at a dark stranger. She was scared for her life, tears running down her face. The man rushed her with inhuman speed, took the gun from her and bent his head to her throat.

All three men focused their attention on her as she relaxed. Jas stroked her face, wiping away the sympathetic tears. He had once again shared the vision with her.

"Melanie is in trouble," Maddie announced, her voice husky with fear. She stood up, bobbed a quick curtsy to the Prince, and ran out of the library, Jas right behind her.

Maddie raced down the hall and saw Raven reaching for the door knob. Putting on a burst of speed she slammed her body into the door, keeping it closed. "Don't open it!" she gasped.

"Why?" Raven demanded, bewildered.

Maddie fought to catch her breath. "The person out there is going to hurt Melanie."

Alarmed, Raven reached out to Mikhail. _Maddie thinks there is a threat outside our door._

_I feel no taint of evil, only the presence of an ancient,_ Mikhail replied. _We will all greet him together._

On the front step, Adonis Leroux waited patiently to be invited in. He had traveled far to pay his respects to the Prince, see for himself the human lifemates who had been converted, and then meet the dawn. The oppressive bleakness of his life was too much to bear, and even if his lifemate was out there somewhere, he suspected she might be better off without him. His emotions were gone, and the rest of him was shutting down. Even his sense of duty was the barest of instincts. He'd spent centuries hiding his darkness in the earth, and now he sought eternal rest.

The door opened, and Mikhail stood before him. Two dark, ancient Carpathians were at each side. Leroux caught the scent of many women inside. The beast inside him growled, protesting these males hording a harem of women while other males of their race were languishing and turning to their inner demon. He mentally shook himself, remembering that there were many mated males in the area, and he had heard that females tended to congregate together for whatever reason.

"Greetings, warrior," Mikhail said formally.

"Greetings, my prince," Leroux said with a bow. "I have come to pay my respects."

"Then enter my home that we may talk," Mikhail invited, stepping to one side to make room for Leroux.

Leroux nodded and walked inside. No sooner had his feet crossed the threshold than his ears picked up sparkling laughter in the kitchen. The laughter stilled his heart, then set it racing. Color seeped into his eyes as the laughter turned to a soft voice that played over his skin like raindrops. Glowing warmth curled around his bones, lightening the load of centuries of darkness. Could it be? After all this time, could she be here?

"Do you have an unclaimed female in this home?" Leroux demanded, forgetting all formality with the strange assault of desire and need twisting his stomach and crushing his lungs.

Gregori and Jas moved from the prince's side to stand between Leroux and the way to the kitchen. They waited silently for their prince to answer the question.

Finally Mikhail said, "Yes, a geneticist from Los Vegas in America. She arrived this evening with Jas and Madalyn Trovatelli, and will be working with other of our scientists to unravel some of the mysteries of our species."

"May I meet her," Leroux asked, trying to keep the desperation out of his voice.

"Perhaps we should talk first," Mikhail suggested.

"She is my lifemate," Leroux stated with stark honesty.

"That may be," the prince conceded. "But there is much we need to discuss before you make yourself known to her."

Leroux wanted to rush to her side, envelop her in his arms, and thank her for saving his soul. He inhaled deeply, and sorted out the scents to find hers. She smelled like fresh briers and berries after the rain. She was sweetness personified, he was certain, but she likely had her thorns, and he was eager to become acquainted with them.

"What could we possibly need to discuss?" he demanded harshly.

"A seer has had a vision," Mikhail replied. "The vision is of you and your lifemate, and she is threatening you with a gun."

Surprise prickled down his spine, and he relished the sensation. So, his lifemate's first thorn, she would not welcome him with open arms but with loaded weapons. Somehow, it didn't seem out of place; he was a dangerous man, and that his lifemate should think to defend herself from him was somewhat amusing.

"Thank you for the warning," Leroux replied. "But I would very much like to set eyes on the woman who will save my soul."

"You will not harm her," Mikhail decreed.

"I would sooner slit my own throat," Leroux vowed, and he opened his mind to Mikhail's inspection. If he needed to let the prince of his people search the dark recesses of his memory, so be it. No price was too high to pay for the gift of meeting this woman.

Mikhail's mind brushed Leroux's, quickly investigating his intentions. They were all honorable. Mikhail found no reason not to let the suffering man meet his destiny. He nodded to Jas and Gregori, who reluctantly parted to allow Leroux entrance to the kitchen.


	16. Chapter 16

Melanie felt a chill go down her spine. Maddie had joined the conversation, but she seemed distracted, even nervous, and it made Melanie uneasy. Suddenly all the girls stopped talking and stared at something behind Melanie. Maddie moved closer, as if to protect her.

Melanie turned and saw _him._ He was tall, narrow, with deep brown hair and tawny brown eyes. His nose was sharp and straight, and he had high cheekbones. He gave the impression of a well honed, lethal weapon. And what was worse, she knew he somehow would be special to her. He was familiar, and yet completely foreign.

"Hello," he said softly. His one word wrapped around her and she felt trapped.

Melanie backed away from the tall stranger, shaking her head warily. "No..." she whispered. "No, no...no..."

"My name is Adonis Laroux," he continued softly. She felt like he was smothering her, even though he hadn't taken a step towards her. "What is your name?"

"No...no..." This wasn't supposed to happen. Panic completely wiped out all the rest of her vocabulary. She couldn't think. Couldn't act. He was going to take her away, she just knew it. The entire room watched as her figure became hazy, nondescript. It was easy for their eyes to slide to one side. She radiated disinterest. It was difficult to focus on her. She darted for the side door of the kitchen, leading to the outside.

Mikhail and Jas restrained Laroux with a gentle but firm grip on each of his forearms. Maddie threw Laroux a withering look and followed Melanie outside. Melanie was leaning over the porch railing hyperventilating. Her figure was still smudgy, as if she was standing in uncertain light, even though the moon was waxing full, filling the yard with a soft blueish glow.

"I know you couldn't hear it, but the psychic gossip flying around is that he's your lifemate, and you're his lifemate. You want to talk about it?" she asked softly, one arm warping gingerly around shoulders she wasn't quite certain were there. The contact made some of the haziness settle down and Maddie gave her a sideways squeeze.

"He's...he's..." Melanie gasped.

"Talk, dark, unbelievably hansom and sexy, and supremely terrifying at the same time?" Maddie supplied.

Melanie nodded.

"From what I gather, they're all like that. When I first saw Jas, I thought he was a mafia hit-man," Melanie confessed. "But I got used to it. So did Raven and Sara and all the other human women who were lifemates to Carpathian males."

"You mean you were human once?" Melanie cried. "I thought you were always...like that."

"No. You were in my apartment, remember?" Maddie reminded her.

"I thought that was just a cover," Melanie whispered. "So you were human? He converted you? To be like him? How?"

"How did Dracula do it?" Maddie countered.

"You mean he drank...and you...while you were still human?" she gasped in disbelief.

Maddie shrugged. "It's kind of disgusting when I think about it, but when it's actually happening, its kind of erotic."

"That man...he wants something from me," Melanie rubbed her eyes, already sore from her earlier crying spell, and ready to unleash another shower. "I can't...I never wanted...this wasn't supposed to happen. I need to get to a phone!"

"You can't," Maddie reminded her. "You're in Carpathian witness protection. No phone calls allowed. No e-mails, no credit cards, no telegraphs, no smoke signals. We talked about this on the plane trip here."

"When we talked, it wasn't about some...some _beast_ taking over my life!" Melanie cried.

"He's not going to take over your life," Maddie tried to reassure her. "Think of him as a giant pedestal you get to stand on while he worships you adoringly in every way possible."

"I don't want to be worshiped." Melanie was close to tears again. She could almost feel him, a shadow of a predator at her back, waiting to pounce and consume her.

"Mel, I had a...a vision of you and Laroux. Just a few minutes ago," Maddie confessed.

"Now you've had a mystic vision of my destiny. Should I confirm with Madam Cleo?" Melanie snapped, angry with herself and completely overwhelmed. She was bordering hysterics and she knew it. "You're suddenly all gung-ho for this little blood cult you've joined. I know you're Goth and all. You're probably getting a huge kick out of this. Ooh—big bad Madalyn is going to suck your blood and leave black roses on your grave!"

Maddie gave her a terse look. "Just because I happen to like Victorian fashion, literature, and the color black, it doesn't mean I'm sadistic. Yeah, I grew up having visions of people dying—and worse—all my life. Kinda makes the powder-puff Barbie dream seem a little futile. But you, little miss medical school probably got everything handed to you on a silver platter. What with that disappearing-reappearing act you have, you could have been a more famous magician than Savanna!"

"Silver platter my ass!" Melanie screamed. "I worked my way though college by busing tables at the bowling alley. Oh, no, sweetie. I've already made my mistakes with men. I'm not falling for Mr. Danger again. That's how I got into this whole mess!"

"The only mess you're in is the one you created by joining a secret society to hunt the people of my 'blood cult.' You wouldn't know a real vampire if he bit your butt!" Maddie retorted.

"Your people, huh?" Melanie hissed. "You keep Laroux. I'm sure Jas will love having a three-some!"

Melanie jumped over the railing and ran to the car. The keys were still in the ignition, right were where Vikirnoff had left them. It had probably never occurred to that old Carpathian that someone would steal his car. Melanie twisted the key and the car roared to life. She jammed it into reverse and slammed down on the gas peddle. As soon as she reached the open road, she sped towards the last small town she'd seen on her way. She was going to get to a phone and get out of this crazy country.

Maddie stayed out on the railing for a minute, watching Melanie run. _That went well, _she thought to Jas.

_Do you know what I would do to any male who suggested a three-some?_ Jas replied, semi-serious menace in his voice.

_Shouldn't someone follow her?_ Maddie demanded.

_Leroux is trailing her. He will not loose her,_ Jas assured her.

_That idiot! She's not going to accept him if he stalks her. _

_She has no choice. She is the light to his darkness, regardless of how she may feel at the moment,_ he reminded her. _You had similar options._

_I like to think I was swayed by your charm,_ she returned briskly. Jas chuckled in her mind, and it warmed Maddie's chilled, apprehensive heart. _What if she shoots him?_

_Then it is his problem. Not yours,_ Jas said smoothly.

Melanie swiped at the tears rolling down her face. She wouldn't feel remorse. She didn't even know him. Maybe if she left the country right away, she could just forget about Laroux. Soon she came to an inn. She parked the car, grabbed her purse, and went inside to ask the desk clerk to use the the phone.

There was no desk clerk, but a very nice lady showed her to the pay phone. It was very modern, and in addition to local coin, it also accepted Visa. Melanie dug out her debit card and swiped it. Then she dialed the number.

"Yes," said a brisk male voice on the other end.

"It's Dr. Rochell. I'm in Romania," Melanie sighed.

"Excellent. What have you learned?" demanded the voice, eager and malevolent.

Melanie held her breath for a second, recalling Raven's words. Somehow, despite all her desperate moves over the last year, she couldn't betray that sweet woman's trust. "Nothing. Not a damn thing."

"But didn't you go with Vlad Doe after he rose from the dead? Didn't he take you to his secret hideout?" insisted the voice.

"Well, kinda, but not really. See, it turns out that Vlad Doe is a Buddhist, so he was never actually dead. He was just meditating really deep," Melanie lied.

"He had a stake in his heart," accused the voice. "No one but a vampire could get up after something like that."

"Actually, isn't that how a vampire _doesn't _get up again?" she pointed out. "Besides, I think he had some special tea or something to help him heal. It's all very mystical and spiritual. I've denied enlightenment at least three times since I've been here."

"Where exactly are you?" the voice demanded. The anger behind it made it ugly.

"You're not going to believe this, but I'm at a Goth Convention in Transylvania," Melanie pseudo-confessed. She should have been an actress, she thought to herself. She could almost believe her own story.

"Goth Convention?" the voice asked incredulously.

"Honest to Buddha," Melanie swore. "I have a gift bag full of black lipstick. And I found some nice spiked collars for my dog."

"You don't have a dog," the voice suspiciously admonished.

"Well, if I had a dog, he'd look fabulous in this hand crafted leather--"

"I can't believe you! Only you would get a lead on a coven of vampires and then loose it at a bloody Goth Convention. Get on the first plane out of there. You have work to do here."

"I'm not coming back. I quit," Melanie told him, suddenly emboldened by the oceans and continents between her and the other man. "I like eastern Europe, and the exchange rate rocks, so I'm going to tour for a bit. I think I'll take a train to Poland."

"You can't quit," the voice said menacingly. "Your brother is still in debt to us. You have a lot of work to do to make up for this little farce."

"Barry is dead," she spat. "I owe you nothing." She slammed the phone on the receiver and let out her breath.

Relief flooded her system. It was over. At least, she'd have a head start on the society. They could trace her payment for the call, but even if they brought the Concorde back from retirement, by the time they arrived she'd be long gone. She'd lied about heading north to Poland, so maybe she'd visit Greece. Or Egypt. Ciro was supposed to be as civilized as London, so she could probably get a new ID on the way and eventually find work at a hospital.

She walked out of the inn feeling lighter than she had in the last year. Her options were open again. Granted she had to scrap her debit card and get a new name and she couldn't ever go back to the U.S. again, or Canada, or western Europe for that matter. But she still had the rest of the world to hide in. And best of all, she'd never have to face Laroux again.

No sooner had that thought passed through her mind than she felt him. A shadow at her back. She wanted to scream and run to the SUV, lock all the doors and hide under the dash board until dawn. With every ounce of dignity she had, she walked to the car. Her hand reached out to open the door and a larger hand intercepted hers, catching her hand in a gentle but unbreakable grip.

"Good evening, my little No-no," he murmured in her ear. His hot breath sent chills down her neck.

Melanie closed her eyes, refusing to look at the dark stranger. "Go away," she ground out between clenched teeth. "I don't want anything to do with you."

"You do not even know me," he whispered.

Melanie dug in her purse and found the small handgun she kept there. She'd left her purse in the car while at Raven's house because she didn't want the Carpathians finding a weapon on her. Now she was glad she had it.

"I don't need to know you. You're dangerous. You're domineering. And I'm not going to be with you," she tried to sound as confidant as possible, but roiling fear made her voice tremble. She gripped the butt of the gun and brought it out, aiming at his heart. "Let me go. Or I'll shoot you." A small voice inside her cried out against harming him in any way, but she'd been burned before. She was not going to let him use his immortal wiles seduce her into another trap.

"You may try. However, if you miss, I get a kiss," Laroux said confidently.

Heart pounding out of control, Melanie closed her eyes and forced her finger to squeeze the trigger. The gun clicked hollowly. With a satisfied smile, Laroux drew Melanie into his arms.

"No fair!" she cried desperately. "I didn't have a bullet."

"You still took the shot," he reminded her. "I was not struck down. Therefore, I win."

Laroux lowered his head to her lips, and gently, softly kissed her. The caress was like a romantic crowbar to the knees; Melanie's legs collapsed along with any resistance left in her. He held her up, molding her supple form to his hard, aching body. He kissed her passionately, throughly. His blood raged in his veins, the beast howled inside him, demanded he take what was rightfully his. Pulling himself back from the brink of certain destruction, he broke the kiss.

"Would you like to shoot me again?" he whispered.


	17. Chapter 17

Melanie became aware of voices around her. She was lying on a very soft sofa and she could tell by the woody smell in the air that she was back at Mikhail's house. Careful to keep her breathing shallow and her mind blank, she listened to the conversation swirling around her head.

"Was her call traced?" Gregori asked.

"The conversation was too brief for a solid trace. I took the liberty of scrambling the phone's internal memory anyway," Laroux replied.

"I can't believe I was so stupid," Maddie moaned.

"You did nothing foolish," Jas assured her.

"Your lifemate is correct," Mikhail said encouragingly. "Regardless of her reasons for following you, allowing a gifted woman to remain in the clutches of the society would have been a greater crime than bringing a spy into our midst."

"In fact, you brought her to Laroux in time to save his life," Raven said with a small smile in her voice. "That in itself is a great service to our people."

"I just should have been more careful!" Maddie protested. "I'm supposed to be the street-wise stripper here. I should--"

"Left her in your apartment? Or perhaps you think she would have been better off caged like a wild animal?" Jas inquired.

Melanie heard a loud smack, and felt a little satisfaction that Maddie had hit Jas for her.

"Did you take her blood?" Mikhail demanded.

"No," Laroux admitted a little reluctantly. "When she fainted, it seemed...unchivalrous to take advantage of her weakened state."

"I suppose all we can do now is wait for her to awaken and hope she listens to reason," Mikhail sighed.

"She is already awake," Laroux said softly. "Her breathing is still slow, but her heart is slightly irregular with fear."

Melanie's breath stopped when she heard that. She wanted to keep pretending she was safe asleep, but she knew it wouldn't help. If Raven was right, the Carpathians couldn't sense her thoughts, but that didn't mean they couldn't pick up on the other things. She had the sneaking suspicion that the rest of the night was going to be like an episode of Lie To Me.

Reluctantly, she opened her eyes and pushed herself up. She was in a small corner study off the library, so she had a little bit of privacy. She ran her fingers through her thick brown hair and took a deep breath.

"Are you ready to join us, No-no?" Laroux called.

"Stop calling me that," Melanie snapped. She stood and walked to the doorway, leaning on the jam in mock casualness. She wasn't about to let them know how truly terrified she was. Finally she demanded rudely, "So what do you want?"

"I believe you already suspect what is required of you," Mikhail said gently. "All we really want is for you to listen to some explanations that will make the transition easier for you."

"No dice," Melanie sniffed. "I'm getting out of here first thing in the morning. And if you try to follow me," she glared at Laroux, "I'll make sure my gun is loaded this time."

She blinked and Laroux was suddenly looming over her. Danger and possession dripped from every pour. Her heart faltered, skipped a beat, then pounded painfully at his closeness. He was so much more than she could ever handle, and her treacherous body was crying out for his. Even her lips tingled at the memory of his kiss. She used every scrap of willpower to prevent her arms from snaking around his narrow waist. He just stood there, looking into her eyes, holding her gaze. She felt like he was about to devour her. Fear made her limbs start to tremble.

"I—I'm my own w-woman," she stammered. Then a little ridiculously, she burst out, "You have no power over me!"

"Score one for the Labyrinth quote," Maddie whispered to Jas.

"But you have power over me," Laroux said softly, for her ears only. "You hold my heart, my life, my very soul in the palms of your hands." He picked up her hands and held them palm up towards his face. He placed a soft, burning kiss in each hand. "If you truly reject me, I will have no choice but to walk into the dawn. If I do not, I risk becoming a terror of which you cannot conceive. A true vampire with no thought in his mind but to destroy you and anyone who protects you. Would you condemn me to either fate?"

Melanie's eyes searched his face and found only the truth of his words. Her heart and soul cried out to prevent him from suffering, but her mind kept reminding her of the _other_ tall, dark stranger who'd broken her heart. Ground it to dust in with a mortar and pestle, was more like it. She was so confused. Her body wanted him, she couldn't bear for him to leave this world, but she couldn't go through the pain again. Never again. Especially not when it was an immortal race—not a secret society—she was dealing with. They had to be worse. Laroux all by himself definitely was worse. If she gave in to him, even a little bit, he would tear her apart. No, it was best for everyone concerned if they could just part ways.

"I don't want you to die," she said carefully, "But I'm not...I'm just not what you want. Or need. Let me escape this stupid Society, and I promise, I'll never breath a word of your existence. That's why you want me, isn't it? So you can make sure I stay quiet?"

Laroux smiled a little sadly as he stared into her face. She was so beautiful that he could hardly breath when he looked at her. So sexy and innocent. He was using the growing bond between them to figure out the catacombs of her mind, but she had amazingly strong defenses. Even when she used her other gifts, she was the incarnate of discretion and subtlety. She possessed a keen wit, and he craved to see it applied to things other than escaping him.

"I want you," he said softly, brushing a tousled lock of hair away from her face, "because you are the other half of my soul. If we feared you would divulge our secrets, it would be a small matter to ensure you never could."

"You mean kill me," she dared him to confirm her worst fears.

"I mean to erase our existence from your mind, plant new memories to explain where you are, and cast you adrift to find a new life," he clarified, his heart aching at the pain and fear in her eyes.

"Fine. Do it," she demanded. "Hypnotize me or whatever it is. Just let me get out of here."

Laroux took a deep breath, and Melanie could tell he was using every ounce of self control to keep from pouncing upon her. She could smell his arousal, and instead of making her sick, it made her burn for him. She was terrorized of this man, but if he stood there much longer, looking lonely and sexy, she would not be responsible for her actions.

"If you wish, we can leave now," he said. Somehow she could tell he was offering more than what she asked for.

"_I_ will leave," she said, backpedaling desperately. "Tomorrow morning. Until then, I'll stay right here so you don't do anything stupid in front of the prince."

Laroux smirked arrogantly. "Do you really think the prince would not support me in my conquest of your heart?"

"I think he will keep you from taking me against my will," she challenged, her soft brown eyes blazing with defiance and repressed lust. Part of her wanted him to whisk her far away from prying eyes. Part of her was terrified that he would.

"Do not mistake me for a human prince," Mikhail warned her. "I know well what is at stake between the two of you, and I will do what is necessary to ensure the safety and continuation of _my people_, of which you are not. Yet_._"

His icy tone sent chills down her spine and Laroux looked even more confidant. She looked desperately at Maddie for help.

"Sorry, I can't really do anything," Maddie said with a helpless shrug. "Lifemates are...well, lifemates. It's something you don't stick your nose in unless you want it bit off."

Melanie turned to Raven.

"He is incapable of hurting you," Raven assured. "He will not do anything you do not want. Only be careful what you ask for, because he will move the moon to make it so." She glanced at her own lifemate, adoration in her gaze.

The women were obviously under the thumbs of their men. Melanie's eyes flitted from man to man, but all of them appeared staunchly on Laroux's side.

"No," she moaned, as she backed up. She was alone, without support, and only a possessive, chauvinistic beast for company. "No, no...this can't be happening."

"Nothing is happening...yet," Laroux soothed. "The only thing that has happened is that we have met. I will not ask for what you cannot give. Perhaps we should have some alone time so we can, as you say, get to know one another."

Melanie just turned and walked into the small corner study again, and sat on the sofa, covering her face with her hands. "No, no...never again," she moaned over and over.

Laroux's heart turned over. She looked so afraid and lost, he just wanted to gather her into his arms and kiss the pain away. He sat beside her, carefully keeping an inch of space between them. Even so, it was almost more than he could bear.

"Why do you say 'never again'? Has another man tried to claim you as his own?" he asked gently, even as the idea of another male near her enraged him.

Melanie sighed and dropped her hands in her lap. "You might as well know," she replied dismally. She opened her mouth to tell the story of her shattered heart, but her throat closed before she could get a word out. Nervously, she skipped to another story, equally terrifying, and hoped Laroux would be satisfied with that. "While I was in medical school, my brother Barry came to me. He needed money. A lot of money. I gave him over five thousand dollars from my tuition, and still he needed more. I was about to cut him off when he showed up on my doorstep all bloody and beaten up. Someone had stabbed his hands, too. Fortunately they missed the tendons. I patched him up as best I could, but he refused to go to the hospital or the police." She hung her head in shame. "I should have just fed him to the wolves. He said that his creditors would let me work off his debt. He promised to pay me back, he just need time. So that's how I got a job at a secret society, mapping genetics of rare apes. Or at least, that was what I was told in the beginning. I was only there a year. Barry was living large the whole time. I had nothing else to work on. I was in the middle of nowhere."

Laroux's anger simmered just below the surface. That a brother would so misuse his sister was heinous. If he were not already dead, Laroux would have a few choice words to share with him.

"Anyway, I met the boss of this place once. It was once-too-many, if you ask me. He was painfully hansom, but he felt...wrong. When I was introduced, he seemed to smile at me. Without smiling. It was in my head. I suddenly had all these brutal, sexual images in my head. Of him." Melanie rubbed her ams as if she was cold. "I knew he'd come back for me someday...but I had nowhere to go. When I thought about leaving, I'd have full-on panic attacks. So I just waited there, stupidly. Like a deer in the headlights. If Jas and Maddie hadn't shown up..."

Laroux could hear her self-loathing. Gingerly, he placed an arm around her shoulders. She leaned into him almost consciously. For a moment they sat together, Melanie battling with herself over what she was certain was another lose-lose situation, and Laroux quietly accepting her internal struggle.

"Anyway," Melanie roused herself. "I'm not getting involved with another...cult organization," she said firmly, reminding herself of what these people were.

"You are truly a remarkable woman," Laroux murmured. "To stand before a powerful vampire and walk away...your natural defenses are remarkable, and your courage no less so."

"But I didn't DO anything!" Melanie cried. "I just waited for whatever fate had planned to find me. I couldn't stand up to my brother. I couldn't even walk out of that stupid facility on my own two feet. I'll be damned if I make the mistake a third time and let _you_ walk all over me, just because you think we have some mystical destiny together."

"There is nothing mystical about our union," Laroux said softly, twitching a few locks of hair off her shoulder. Her hair was so soft that he could spend all night toying with it. "We are quite simply two halves of the same whole. I will not walk all over you, as you seem to think. I suspect your experience with men is rather narrow, if you think we all are like your brother or coworkers at the society."

She blushed and turned away. Laroux was ridiculously pleased that he was right in his guess at her virginity. He gently took hold of her chin and turned her face to him once more.

"Already I see the beauty and light in you, shining like the moon," he whispered. "That you would lie to your oppressors about a people you don't know in an effort to preserve peace is evidence of your loving nature. You are a blazing gem of compassion, one I desperately need to illuminate the darkness in my heart. Without you, I have no reason for living. Without you, my existence is an endless void. You have restored color to my eyes, joy to my heart, passion to my veins. How could ever I mistreat such a miracle as you?"

Melanie trembled at the touch of his fingers, the brush of his words. He was turning her inside out with the love in his voice, the loneliness in his eyes. She summoned the last of her willower and dared ask a final question, daring him to answer honestly, "What do _you_ want?"

Through their slowly strengthening link, Laroux caught the hint in her mind, knew what she was really asking of him. He bent on one knee in front of her, holding a closed fist before him.

"Melanie Rochelle, I want you now and for eternity." He opened his hand to reveal a simple braided golden band. "Will you marry me?" he asked softly, honestly.


	18. Chapter 18

Melanie had all but dared him to ask, but when he popped the question so quickly, she was all at once enchanted, disappointed, apprehensive and relieved. She felt romanced like a love-at-first sight fairytale, but marrying into a clan of immortals was daunting to say the least. But the real kicker was the chilling feeling that this was happening to fast to be real. Laroux might say sweet and charming things, but she'd seen Maddie at her worst, she'd seen Aiden raise the dead, and she'd seen the kind of torture Jas could take and survive. What if he turned out to be a monster? Could she tie herself to a complete stranger with nothing but faith to go on? But then again, did she dare refuse him?

"I...I--" she stammered, grappling with all the unfamiliar emotions. Her eyes dared away from Laroux's face, searching around the room for a way out, only to be drawn back to his eyes. "I-I'm not saying 'no,' but could we maybe take this slow?"

Laroux's fingers curled around the gold ring, and Melanie felt a strange pang in her heart when it disappeared, but tried not to let it show.

"What do you mean by slow?" he asked, unperturbed at her delaying tactics.

"Well, why don't we start with a date?" she suggested wildly.

"What would be involved with this..._date?_"

"Dinner, dancing, maybe a movie, a walk in the moonlight, that sort of thing," she said, waving a hand in the air vaguely.

Although her thoughts were still veiled, however thinly, to him, Laroux was beginning to understand what Melanie wanted. She wanted to be romanced. Even though her heart was still cringing from the betrayal of her brother, the meeting with the vampire, and several other wounds she had not divulged from him, she was a creature of light, and therefore embraced life. She wanted roses and candles, satin sheets and diamonds. She wanted someone—him—to be totally devoted to her, to make her dreams come true. The only thing in the way of their love was her persistent fear of who and what he was, and the claim he already had on her fragile heart.

"Then I shall leave you this night to prepare for this...date," he let the word hang ominously. "May I have one last kiss before I depart?"

Melanie summoned up her courage and meant to give him a quick peck on the cheek, but Laroux swiftly caught her head and deepened the kiss. His lips were warm, his passion undeniable, his lust infectious. When he finally broke the kiss, Melanie felt lightheaded and a little bereft.

"Until tomorrow evening, my love," he whispered. Then he vanished, right before her eyes.

Melanie closed her eyes, fighting back tears. She didn't want to be attracted to him. He'd break her heart. Maybe not tonight, maybe not tomorrow night, but it was the nature of men to hurt the ones they loved.

A soft knock alerted her to someone at the study door.

"Are you going to be alright?" Maddie asked.

"No," Melanie choked. Instantly, Maddie was beside her, arms wrapped around the doctor's shoulders. Melanie leaned into the embrace and started crying for real.

_What is wrong?_ A voice—his voice—drifted into her mind. _You are breaking my heart. I will come to you._

_NO! _Melanie thought desperately, hoping he would read her thoughts. _I just need some time to get this shock out of my system. I need girl time._

_Should you need me..._he whispered in her mind, _you only need call._

Then there was silence, which only made Melanie cry harder. "How did you do it?" she sobbed. "How did you accept Jas taking over your life?"

Maddie stroked her hair and replied, "I really didn't have much of a life to start with. I was constantly on the run from terrible prophetic visions. Plus, all the other men I knew only wanted company for an hour. Two if they were kinky. Jas was my savior. After he came into my life, I had more control of my gifts, and I saw not only the terrible, but the beautiful as well. I left nothing but heartache behind when I joined with him."

"Do you think..." Melanie asked as her tears subsided. "Do you think I'll ever feel that way about...him?" She couldn't even say his name.

"I suspect so," Melanie comforted her. "You just need a little time. You're still human—which isn't a bad thing—but I suspect that humans, even though we have shorter lives, take longer to realize the truth. Maybe it is because there is so much deception filling the world—especially where relationships are concerned."

"Tell me about it," Melanie moaned.

"What is it exactly that you protest to?" Maddie wondered.

Melanie sighed. "I don't really know. Part of it is the whole _I vant so suck your blood_ thing, when I'm a vegetarian. Part of it is the prospect of eternity when I barely know how to get through one day at a time. Part of it is that...he's so...masculine. And I'm so...not feminine."

"If you're not feminine, what are you?" Maddie asked without a trace of humor or sarcasm in her voice.

"I'm like an amoeba—a-sexual. I've just never had any...you know...urges," Melanie squirmed as she spoke. "I've had male and female friends, and a grand total of one boyfriend who turned out to be gay. But..." The truth was too close to the surface, and it choked off any further explanation.

Maddie watched the doctor's growing discomfort with a knowing eye. "Let me guess," she said softly as she threw up a sound barrier that would prevent any other Carpathians from listening in. "He was older."

Melanie looked at her in wild denial.

"Much older," Maddie continued. "And you were very innocent."

Melanie's mouth opened and closed like a fish's before she dissolved into wracking sobs again. Maddie drew her closer as if she were a little child. "It's okay, it's alright. You're safe here. No one but us has to know."

"But..._he'll_ know," Melanie sobbed. "He'll find out something is wrong with me. And then...he won't want me anymore."

Maddie bit her lips against the obvious and rather empty arguments. After a moment, she asked gently, "Would you tell me what happened?"

Melanie sniffed and finally confessed. "He was a jerk. Tall, dark, and hansom. Very European. He...he was so sweet and thoughtful. I thought he was my friend. It wasn't...violent or anything. He just convinced me to try a...a physical relationship. I was so humiliated." She started crying again. "He...he called me a...corpse. He said there was something wrong with me. He didn't even want to stay friends. And I tried. I really did. I tried so hard..."

"You would be surprised at how many female Carpathian lifemates were physically unresponsive to men before they found their other halves," Maddie said casually. "Even though I was a pole-dancer, I had to fake it all the time. The customers made my skin crawl every night."

"What? Really?" Melanie sniffed. "You mean...?"

"You are perfectly normal," Maddie affirmed. "What he did was wrong, and he was probably lashing out because he felt like he wasn't man enough for you."

"Stupid macho egos," Melanie giggled as she scrubbed her face.

"It's called chemistry," Maddie whispered loudly, like she was passing on an important secret. "And I know you and Laroux have chemistry going on."

"It's the only thing we have going on," Melanie sighed.

"Trust me, it'll turn into something wonderful, if you just give it the chance," Maddie promised.

"But how do I _know_?_"_ Melanie demanded.

"Just trust your heart, as corny as it sounds," Maddie advised. "Besides, he's given some of us a hint or two about this date night of yours, and I'm going to help you get dressed. You totally need something a little more...hubba-hubba!" she said with a wink.

"Like a little black dress?" Melanie asked sheepishly.

"More like a long trailing evening gown. Byron is working on your jewelry already, and they'll be here tomorrow evening. . What colors do you like?"

"Anything but black and red," she replied with a hopeful smile. "I've never had an evening gown before."

"Trust me, you are going to look fabulous."

~~~~~~~~~8~

At an hour past sunset, Laroux knocked on Mikhail's front door for the second time in as many days. He was dressed in a black tuxedo with a black shirt. A brilliant gold vest and champagne cravat pinned with a single diamond winked from under the tailored black coat. It had been a rare pleasure to craft such colorful clothes.

He had done his best to give Melanie her space, touching her mind only briefly to reassure both of them that the other was well and safe. He had outlined his plans to the Prince, who had passed assignments it the rest of his people. He hoped that his extravagant display tonight would convince Melanie of his absolute devotion to her. He wasn't sure that he could survive a lengthy courtship; the beast was strong in him, and he was not yet bound by her light.

Raven answered the door in an elegant blue brocade dress stitched with blue topaz beads and silk ribbon. She smiled and gestured for Laroux to enter. She led the way into the study, where Mikhail stood with Jas and Gregori, all three dressed to kill. Mikhail was resplendent in a tailored blue vest embroidered with forget-me-nots to match his lifemate. Gregori wore deep violet trimmed with silver over a cool gray shirt, accented with onyx cuff links. Jas wore a vest of wine red over a shirt of dark cinnamon, his matching red satin cravat imprinted with lacy patterns.

Laroux clasped hands with Mikhail.

"Thank you for your support," Laroux said.

"You should be careful of the precedent you set," Mikhail warned with a wry grin. "Or all the women will want engagement balls."

"It may be safer to simply make it an annual event," Jas suggested with a wink.

The men did not have the opportunity to discuss the pros and cons of Laroux's plan, for just then, the women walked in.

Raven and Savanna came in, Raven in blue and Savanna in a clinging satin gown with onyx gems lining th collar and the fitted cuffs. Maddie was right behind them, her red mermaid gown flaring elegantly at the knees, black lace peaking out at the top of her deep neckline and edges of her sleeves, matching the scalloped petticoats flashing around her ankles. Then, after a heartbeat, Melanie walked in.

Laroux dropped to one knee in reverence of her beauty. She was a vision of light in soft, pale gold silk. Her gown was long and elegant, the skirt clinging at the hips before draping luxuriously at her feet. She had long bell sleeves and a shallow but broad neckline that almost went off her shoulders. Yellow diamonds set in white gold were strung around her neck and a single white-gold rosebud hung from each ear. Her hair, normally nutty brown, glowed with brilliance, and her eyes seemed darker, deeper, able to hold all the secrets of the world.

Melanie blushed when she saw Laroux kneeling, the faint pink only adding to her radiance. She was so nervous, but so excited she could barely keep from fidgeting. The whole room was silent with the joy arching like electricity between the two unbound lifemates.

"So, how do I look?" Melanie finally asked, stroking the silk of her gown nervously.

"Like...an angel," Laroux breathed. "One that God held back from earth because she was to beautiful to bear the darkness there." And yet she was bound to a dark creature. Him. Were he a better man, he might have let her go to find someone who deserved her. But he was not. He was selfish and jealous when it came to her. He only hoped she would accept him.

Melanie's blush deepened, and she had to look away from the pure and potent love in his eyes or she would go up in flames. Mikhail cleared his throat, which seemed to restore Laroux to his body. He stood gracefully and held out his elbow.

"Shall we?" he asked seductivly.

Hesitantly, Melanie curled her fingers in the crook of his arm. Gently, he lead her and the rest of the formally attired parade outside, where they took to the skies. Laroux held Melanie close as they sailed through the indigo night to the castle he had prepared. The old heap had been forgotten by humans, but he had cared for it, as he saw it as a reflection of his own barren, empty life. Now, however, it glowed with light and laughter. Music sang into the night as he and Melanie landed in the courtyard overgrown with white roses.

"This is amazing!" Melanie whispered, looking around.

"Baby," Laroux quoted countless American traditions, "You ain't seen nothing yet."


	19. Chapter 19

Laroux led Melanie into the ballroom. The old crumbling walls had been repaired and draped with rich tapestries. Gauzy golden veils hung from the ceiling. Intricate candelabras and etched glass lanterns lit up the hall. A brilliant chandelier glittered benevolently from above the dance floor. A young man stood behind a traditional DJ table, carefully selected classical music came from speakers discreetly arranged around the room. Next to that was a full grand piano. Couples and well behaved children filled the ballroom, dancing, laughing, and enjoying the evening.

"What do you think?" Laroux asked as Melanie took in the grandeur of the ballroom.

"It's...magical," Melanie breathed. "I feel like Cinderella or Anastasia."

"That was my intent," he assured her.

"Although I have to admit the disk jockey takes away from the fantasy a little," she teased.

Laroux's heart leaped into his throat. At first he wanted to wave a hand to make the modern music appliances disappear. Then he realized she was trying to joke with him, and it warmed his heart—and his loins—like nothing had ever done in his entire life. She was slowly accepting him, in her own way.

"I made young Josef promise to remain faithful to my carefully selected repertoire," he replied stoically. "Should he deviate, and play any of that heinous rap he is so fond of, there will be hell to pay."

"Aw, you don't like rap?" Melanie asked. She was beginning to like the tiny panicked look whenever she asked something unexpected. That she could tip him ever so slightly off balance every once in a while gave her wicked satisfaction. It served him right for deciding to take over her life anyway.

"Do you?" Laroux returned, a flicker of concern in his eyes. If she liked rap, perhaps he could develop a taste for the repulsive conglomeration of beats, but he hoped it wouldn't come to that.

"Actually, I'm a country girl. My dad taught me to play the guitar before he died," she said.

"I would love to hear you play." Laroux brought her hand to his lips where he carefully placed a kiss on each fingertip. The intimate gesture made Melanie blush more. "Perhaps you and Antonietta could preform a duet together."

"No way," Melanie quickly backpedaled. "I haven't played in years—I don't even own a guitar anymore."

"Then I shall be content if you dance with me." Laroux made a mental note of the gift possibilities as he gently led her to the freshly polished dance floor.

"But I don't know how to dance!" Melanie protested.

"I will show you," Laroux replied seductively. His mind brushed hers. He felt her mentally recoil for a moment, but when he only shared the steps of the dance with her, she relaxed. Soon they were gracefully twirling around the ballroom. Melanie enjoyed the brush of the silk dress around her legs, the heat of Laroux's hand burning through the small of her back, the way his eyes never left hers, even as he guided her around the dance floor.

Laroux could feel the happiness radiating from Melanie's heart. She was enchanted, ensnared, entangled in this web of seduction he was weaving for her. He desperately hoped it would be enough. His lust for her grew every minute she was in his arms, yet he couldn't bear to push her away even for the sake of her own safety.

The beautiful strains of classical violin died away, but Laroux didn't notice. He was too caught up on Melanie's eyes.

Then a new, abrasive rhythm started. Drums pounded in the most aggravating syncopation, and then a harsh voice whispered...

_The beautiful people, the beautiful people...oohWAAA!_

Laroux whirled to pierce Josef with a burning glare, but it wasn't Josef behind the DJ table, it was Maddie. She smiled impishly as the possessed voice hissed and wailed from the speakers. Laroux was about to explode with temper when Melanie started laughing. Not just the cute giggle from before, but a whole hearted laugh. Tears of mirth sparked in her eyes and she started to sing along with the music.

"The beautiful people, the beautiful people...It's all relative to the size of your steeple!" she chanted with Maddie. Maddie winked at the implications, and Melanie dissolved into laughter again.

Laroux waved a hand and the repulsive music was silenced. The fact the song had made his lifemate laugh was the only reason he didn't call lightening down to singe Maddie's hair.

"I think perhaps the rest of us don't know how to dance to that sort of...music," he grated. "Might we continue with the evening without more interruptions?"

"Doubtful," Maddie replied, but she stepped down from the DJ table and into the arms of her lifemate. He looked concerned, and drew Maddie to the side.

With another wave of his hand, the classical music started again. Laroux tuned back to Melanie and they picked up the dance steps again.

In the corner, Maddie leaned heavily on Jas as the vision took hold of her. She gripped his forearm hard enough that her nails bt into the flesh and drew blood. Elation and confusion warred with the instinctual fear that came with every nightmare. This one was so different, though. In the vision, Melanie glowed. Her faith, courage, and love shone radiant through her skin until she was as bright as a Hunter's moon, blazing fierce as a wild fire. Darkness tried to claim her, but her light burned it, drove it away. She even...smiled.

Then the vision was gone. Maddie looked weakly at Jas. "What was that?" she whispered.

"I do not know...yet," Jas replied. "But we shall keep a close watch on her. I promise."

"Should we tell the prince?" her voice quavered. Jas thought for a moment, then nodded. Together they made their way to Mikhail and Raven.

As they danced, Melanie tried to strike up some more interesting conversation. "So your name is Adonis, but everyone calls you Laroux," she cassualy observed. "Why?"

"Because as a youth I grew tired of being bullied," he replied gruffly. "My mother was a healer and woman of the earth. She named me after the red flowers, which ironically got their name from the deity Adonis as well."

"I can't imagine anyone bullying you," Melanie protested.

"After I took down a few of the strongest, no one bullied me since," he said with a satisfied smile.

His smile turned her heart over and she laughed again. After another dance, Melanie retreated to the edge of the ballroom. "Do you mind if I go outside for a breath of air?" she asked Laroux softly. "I feel a little flush."

Laroux just took in her beautiful face for a moment. How could he deny her anything when her long lashes swept down like that? Or when her lips pursed in hope? She was softness and sweetness, velvet and flower petals, everything he wasn't. He drew a deep breath before replying, "Just for a moment, angel. I do not think I can be without your light for more than that."

Melanie flashed him a smile and his heart skipped a beat. He wanted her to smile like that all the time. Then she topped forward and gave him a kiss on the cheek before quickly turning to dart out the French doors to the garden. Laroux's heart melted.

Outside, Melanie heaved a sigh. She was thrilled with the ball. Laroux was being a regular prince charming, and she was steadily slipping into his snare of love. It didn't seem so silly now, that he would want her, maybe even love her. The chemistry between them was thrilling, sparking and arching like lightening. It would be so easy to let herself fall into his arms. And she loved teasing him. It was intoxicating to have that kind of power over such a masculine man, to know he was responding to her as a woman. For the first time she could remember, she felt feminine and beautiful.

Sarah and Falcon's children were playing in the garden. They hid behind statues and fountains, dodged in and out of trimmed rosebushes. Their sparkling laugher was delightful, their sense of fun infectious.

Suddenly, Melanie knew something was wrong. Sticky evil crept over the garden like a shadow over the moon. The children felt it, and stopped playing. They crowded together, back to back, and looked for the source of the stain that spread over the open area.

Melanie saw it first. Vampire.

He was trying to keep up an illusion of what must have been his former face, but she could see through it to his genuine features. Black teeth. Thinning hair. Blotchy skin. Rusty stained fingers with talon-like nails. He was the most horrifying thing she'd ever seen.

And he was stalking the children.

Without thinking, Melanie ran towards the children. She threw her blurring abilities over them and at the same time, drew attention to herself.

"Leave them alone!" she cried, even as she reached out for Laroux to help.

The vampire whirled, staring at her. "You..." he hissed. His eyes swept up and down her figure with perverted lust.

"That's right, me," she challenged.

"I came searching for a lifemate," he said, attempting to make his voice mesmerizing.

"You found one," she replied. She boosted her talents, trying to keep the vampire's attention fulling on her. She felt Laroux's power flowing through her. Without thinking, Melanie fed him her stratagy; to distract the vampire until the children to reached safety. She was terrified, but she refused to stand passively by while this monster hunted the innocent.

"You are my lifemate?" the vampire growled, confused.

"I am an unclaimed female of extraordinary talent," she boasted. "Why fight over immature children when I stand before you?"

Laroux snarled, every instinct demanding he sweep Melanie out of danger, but her plan was a good one. Other hunters ringed the garden, waiting for the children to escape the before intervening. Despite the beast raging inside him, he admired her courage, standing up to the vilest of monsters, even if this vampire was inexperienced and newly turned.

The vampire reached for Melanie, seemingly enchanted by her beauty. She was luminous in the moonlight. Almost glowing. In fact, she was glowing. The light seemed to be coming from under her skin, but it grew brighter and brighter as she lured the vampire closer and closer. Laroux fed his power into her, every ounce he could spare. Now her light was casting shadows and still she kept getting brighter.

The vampire screamed, the light pouring off of Melanie's skin burning him as surly as the dawn. His body blackened and smoked. He leaned away from her even as his feet took another step towards her.

Finally the signal rippled down the line of hunters. The children were safe. Almost instantly, three layers of safeguards and shields wrapped around Melanie as multiple streaks of lightening incinerated the vampire. So swift was the strike that the creature dissolved into ash and swept out of the garden by a gust of wind.

Laroux appeared at Melanie's side and gathered her into his arms as the safeguards fell. She was trembling, her heart pounding, her breath coming in short gasps.

"Shh," Laroux soothed as he stroked her hair. "It is over. Let your heartbeat follow mine, your breathing follow mine."

"What was that?" Melanie whispered, shivering with shock.

"That was a vampire. A young one. You have met one before, have you not?" he murmured.

"I...I suppose...but this one was so...raw," she protested. "He radiated rash misery and sadistic lust. The other...he was just an empty void. He was more terrifying because you could tel that he would wait for the opportunity to do the most damage."

Laroux squeezed her closer and buried his face in her hair. He inhaled her scent, just because she was still alive. Even though they weren't bound by the ritual words, he felt the connection between them deeply. Love, awe, respect and possession all warred within his heart. He wanted to keep her safe and secure for all time, but the thought of her radiance, the light of her heart shining out of her skin, and he was humbled by her self sacrificing nature. She had been reluctant to commit to him, but now she was willingly seeking shelter in his arms. The call of lifemates was upon them both, but better to err on the side of caution than to hurt the one woman who held his heart in the palm of her hand.

"Let me take you home," he finally sighed. "Before I do something I will regret."

"What would you regret?" Melanie demanded softly. "Don't...don't you want to...be with me?" She blushed and hid her face in his shoulder.

"More than anything on the face of the earth. But if you are not ready..."

"I am ready. More than ready," she affirmed. "It's like Maddie said; I just need to trust my heart, and it showed me what we can be."

"Do you mean it?" Laroux tried not to gasp. "Do you truly give yourself to me?"

"Within reason," Melanie tried to back peddle. "Don't think I'm going to be picking up your dirty underwear for the next thousand years. But...yes, I do."

Laroux dropped to one knee and again offered the ring of braided golden bands. "Will you marry me?"

Melanie's eyes lit up with tears of joy. "Yes," she whispered.

Laroux stood and kissed her. This kiss was nothing like the first. It was more passionate. It seared his soul, welding hers to his. It was desperate and generous, pleading and giving. It left Melanie's toes tingling with the sheer sensation of the kiss.

"Shall we be married tonight?" he asked huskily. "Everyone is here, and I don't think I could wait for you much longer."

Melanie blushed. "That makes sense..."

He didn't wait for another word. He swept Melanie into his arms and suddenly they were in front of the prince. He set her down and she fiddled with her skirt, embarrassed at his eagerness, and at the lust in the pit of her stomach rising to meet it.

Mikhail cleared his throat. The music stopped. Every eye turned to the golden pair. Maddie snuck up beside Melanie to give her arm a squeeze. A thin vale of white and gold silk fell over her face, held in place by a crown of dainty cream roses. Maddie pressed a bouquet of matching roses into Melanie's hands with a wink.

"Dearly beloved," Mikhail started, his voice ringing out through the ballroom. "Adonis Laroux has chivalrously declared his love to Melanie Rochelle, and she finds him...amiable enough." That brought a small glare from Laroux and chuckles from everyone else. "They have both endured much hardship to be together. They will now share in the ritual words, and bind their souls together for all eturnity."

_Just follow the words in my mind, and we will say them together,_ Laroux whispered confidentially. He knew that Melanie didn't have to say a single thing, but it would mean something to her if she could exchange vows. And, Laroux discovered curiously, it would mean something to him that she would formalize her willingness to be his wife and lifemate.

Together, they intoned, "I claim you as my lifemate. I belong to you; I offer my life for you. I give you my protection. I give you my allegiance. I give you my heart. I give you my soul. I give you my body. I take into my keeping the same that is yours. Your life, happiness and welfare will be cherished and placed above my own for all time. You are my lifemate, bound to me for all eternity and always in my care."

Then, without instruction from the prince, Laroux lifted the vale and they kissed. The whole ballroom erupted in cheers. Melanie broke away from Laroux just long enough to throw her bouquet, and then she surrendered to another toe-tingling kiss.

Mikhail stepped forward again. "May you find peace and happiness together for many decades to come."

"And children," Melanie insisted. "I've always wanted children."

"Of course children," Laroux replied, his eyes shining with love. "This is only the beginning."

Beside Melanie, Maddie swayed violently.

"The beginning..." Maddie whispered, and then the vision hit her. Her knees hit the hardwood floor even as Jas tried to catch her. She heard distant shouts of concern, Jas's voice calling out to her. Then she fainted. She fell into darkness, but with the darkness came knowledge. So much knowledge poured into her that her head began to pound.

"You've forgotten your calling," she murmured to them, feeling the imperative need to convey the urgent message she'd just discovered. "You've forgotten..." but she was tired. So tired. She couldn't hold on anymore and just slipped into sleep.

She woke maybe an hour later to soft, cool fingers on her face. She could tell by the muffled sounds of the room that she must be lying on a sofa in one of the parlors of Laroux's castle. She opened her eyes and looked at Jas. Mikhail and Gregori stood behind him, watching her anxiously. With them were all the males Maddie knew, and many more she didn't. She had to search Jas's memories to find identities for them.

"Welcome back," Mikhail said softly. "We were worried about you."

"Just a nightmare...at least, that's what it felt like," Maddie told them. "I'm always a little drained after one hits."

"That was more than a nightmare," Gabriel. "That was a powerful vision. Are you able to relay it's meaning to us?"

"You said we'd forgotten something," Lucien.

Maddie took a deep breath and looked deep inside herself. There it was, clear as crystal, the vision of the _past_, not the future, that she needed to impart to these men. With another cleansing breath, she spoke, her voice soft, hypnotic, and very distant.

"After the beginning, after the heavens and earth were formed, after Adam and Eve left the garden, after Cain slew his brother, the Prince of Darkness was pleased with his work. He had corrupted a third of the angles. He had turned the Father's children against him. These were the days when the sons of God married the daughters of men, when angels first knew the power of love. Now the Evil One sought to defile the earth, Gaia herself. She was as innocent as a child, unaware of plots and schemes of other spirits. She was eager only to support the life her creator had adorned her with. Using honeyed words and soft lies, the Fallen One laid his seed deep in her caverns, and she conceived.

"When Gaia realized the nature of the child she carried, she wept, her tears destroying all that was on the earth in a terrible flood, save one vestal commissioned by the Father to save His creation. Gaia gave birth to a son, and he was a creature of his sire. He could not bear the sun's light, nor the deep shade, but hid within the depths of earth until night. Unable to survive on anything but the blood of the Father's children, he was called Shyum, for the darkness that dwelt within him. How the Evil One gloated, delighted to have spawned such a one as this. Gaia cried out to the Father, and He heard her sorrows. He looked into the heart of Shyum, and found him strong and respecting the life his mother cherished, despite the seductive whispers of the carnal beast inside him. In compassion, the Father chose a woman from His own children to be the light to Shyum's darkness. She was Leora. He gave her in marriage to Shyum, but He also gave Shyum a commission; he was to be the keeper of all the monsters, dragons, and dark creatures. His sons and sons' sons were to continue this work, defending and protecting the Father's children."

Maddie paused to take a few deep breaths before continuing, "Shyum and Leora had twin sons. One embraced the commission of the Father. He was called Ayman. One followed the whispers of the Deceiver. He was called Tamas. Tamas turned to darkness, became the first vampire. He delighted in wickedness. Ayman was forced to kill his own brother. And so it began. Centuries passed, and the sons of Shyum and Ayman kept evil at bay both without and within, and the Father provided them with daughters of light to continue. But soon, their children forgot the great commission, and fell into unending darkness. "

Her story was met with silence and startled looks. The men withdrew from her, and even though not one word was uttered, she knew they were communicating privately. Maddie looked at the disbelieving faces and her heart sank. Would they believe her? Would they trust her vision?

_I believe you,_ Jas whispered encouragingly. _I trust you. I know your gift extends not only to the future, but also to pivotal points of history. Your proximity to the Prince and all his people triggered this vision, and they have been granted a second warning because of you. _He nuzzled her hair, sending her love and strength.

_But what if they don't act upon it? What if they remain locked in their mountains away from the work that needs doing? _Maddie cried, tears sparkling in her eyes. _They cause themselves untold harm by remaining neutral. Destroying vampires is not their only work—not our only work. _

_Then their fate is on their own heads, _Jas assured her. I_f they do nothing, we will not follow their example. We will find a place where we can do the most good, and then we will do it._

"It appears," Mikhail said after a long moment, "That we have much to learn of our history if our future has any hope. We have defeated master vampires, tainted jaguar, and powerful mages, but perhaps it has been our new stand against the darkness that has brought us in contact with our newly found lifemates. If that is the case, then we cannot neglect our...commission. What would you suggest?"

Jas and Maddie looked at each other, not even a though passed between them, but their hearts were of one accord.

"Openly defy the Morrison Foundation," Jas replied firmly. "Do not merely send a few unmated males to collect their research and destroy one or two buildings. Create a place where all psychics, male and female, can be safe in time of need. Influence politics so the Morrison Foundation cannot ignore the laws of men when it suits them. Seek out and destroy the evil ones who sow seeds of violence. Plant your own seeds with men and women like Gary Jensen, Cullen Tucker, Jubal and Gabrielle Sanders. People who we have faith in and who have faith in us."

"How do you propose we do that without letting the world know exactly who and what we are?" Gregori growled.

"You have people talented enough to pass themselves off as simple telekinetics or telepaths," Maddie replied. "In fact, we will be the first to volunteer."

"Unacceptable," another male hissed. "You must remain protected."

Jas turned to glare at the tall, lonely man who had protested. "We are more than capable of taking care of ourselves. And if perhaps it is not our safety, but the possible safety of your future lifemate you are concerned about, she has an equal chance of being our child...or a psychic refugee in need of sanctuary. Would you risk denying her in her hour of need?"

That sent a ripple through all the men.

"We will start small," Mikhail decided. "You two may return to the United States and begin establishing such a haven. I suspect Melanie and Laroux would like to accompany you, as will a few of our unmated males. Perhaps...if it is God's will...we will stay in the light."

* * *

So, now that it's done, PLEASE leave your comments and questions in the REVIEW section. I'd love to hear them. ^_^

...Did I already hear someone ask for a sequel? ;)

Yes, yes I did. And for anyone who wants to read the sequel, Dark Flower is open for business. Just hightail it to my profile to find it. Also, for a fun little side story, check out Dark Rain/Dark Storm, which I'm thinking about taking down from the "complete" status and adding a few more chapters.


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